Welcome to “What’s Wrong With Washington!” I hope your weekend has gotten off to a great start. And hopefully we can make it even better with a good discussion this evening regarding major issues in our nation. Please do check out my website, Lance Pisowicz Online (www.wix.com/lancejp/online). Also become a subscriber of my Youtube Channel (www.youtube.com/user/lancejponline), like my Facebook (www.facebook.com/pages/Lance-Pisowicz/130049603677542), or follow me on Twitter (www.twitter.com/lancejponline). You can also subscribe to my blogs on blogger (www.wrongwithwashington.blogspot.com and www.lancesweeklywalk.blogspot.com). Due to popular demand, I’m going to take on three major topics, so forgive me if I don’t cover it as in depth as I would like to. Tonight our topic is warfare against the classes. This war encompasses the academic classes of American students and economic classes of the American people. So without further ado, let’s hop right into it!
We begin this evening with a look at last week’s voting poll. We have a very mixed result this week. 44% of you said that you wanted Affirmative Action to be abolished. 33% want to see it upheld, 13% want it reduced, and 9% are as to what should be done at this point. We had a total of 45 people vote in this poll, and I was very interested in the results. So, once again I thank you all for participating in this week’s poll. I think it adds another element of viewer/reader involvement in this presentation. I hope you will participate in our new poll which I will mention at the end of the show. Tonight we are still taking a look at the college campus but from the other end of it - graduation. Actually, we are looking at what awaits our college students as soon as they complete their degrees. According to the Minnesota Office of Higher Education, 71 percent of American college students had student loans in 2010. In fact, they borrowed an average of $29,100 per student.
With more than seven out of every ten American students accumulating such a large debt in order to receive a higher education, the stage is set for some to be unable to pay such loans back. However, the percentage of students who cannot repay such loans is astounding. According to the U.S. Department of Education, the student loan default rate in 2008 was 7%. In just one year, the rate has risen to 8.8%, a trend that would have us well over 10% for 2012. Those numbers are not promising.
With between 50 and 60% of American high school students enrolling in colleges and universities, this means that nearly 40% of all American high school students will take out student loans. Finally, we consider that 4% of all American high school students will default from college loans. The result makes me sick. 4% may not sound like a lot, but for me to consider that one out of every twenty five of my classmates will default on student loans leaves me no choice but to investigate the problem. I am in a class of about 900 students, over 3,200 students (9th-12th grade). We are one of the largest schools in the state of (Northwest) Indiana, and if the facts hold, we will have 36 sophomores (128 students total) who will default from student loans. This will not just happen from my high school, this will affect every school across the nation.
Both President Obama and Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney have offered solutions to the problem. They have visited universities offering their own remedies, but I think the problem stems back to the economy. The fact is that students are graduating from college with huge amounts of debt. Right after commencement the bills begin to roll in. The students, who had planned on getting jobs, now find that there are few or no job opportunities for them at all, as a result of the poor economy. At the end of the day, the president played a huge role in this disaster. His policies of increasing government dependence and raising taxes has crippled the economy, forcing American jobs elsewhere or out of existence all together. The situation was bad to begin with, but President Obama has only made it worse.
That leads us into the issue of raising taxes. “Tax the rich,” seems to be the President’s motto, but the fact is that the rich have already been taxed. The American Dream has always been a better life and greater freedom. That is accomplished through hard work and perseverance. The reward for this resolve comes in many ways, one of which is wealth. The wealthiest five percent of Americans contribute well over half of American tax dollars, but that is not to say that the middle class has been left out of the “gutting” either. According to Senator John Cornyn of Texas, 51% of Americans pay no income tax at all. There are some individuals who legitimately need to be exempt from income tax, but there is no way that more than half the people of this country should evade contributing to the services they receive from the government.
Class warfare will accomplish nothing. Many of those who have such wealth in our nation have achieved it as a result of their intellect, creativity, and most importantly - hard work. They have earned it. The same is true for Middle Class Americans who pay income tax. In the office, nobody likes to have deadbeats around. There are some people who are truly incapable of contributing, but that number is not even 5%, let alone 51%. John Smith of Jamestown Colony once said, “If you don’t work you don’t eat.” Unless a person lacks the capacity to help, then they really don’t have any claim to free government services, do they? We have rights to these things in our nation, but as citizens we also have responsibilities to uphold, all of us.
The president is merely creating a distraction to take the focus off of the economy, jobs, and gas prices, what we all really care about. President Obama is also using tactics such as a phantom “war on women,” and claims that Republicans are racists and extremists in order to divide the house. Do not allow him to do this.
President Lincoln once said, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.”
Finally we conclude this evening with the Fast and Furious scandal which has been mushrooming in the past few weeks. Formally known as the “ATF gunwalking scandal”, the reasoning for the situation was the hope of tracking powerful drug cartels and other wanted individuals in Mexico by selling firearms to known arms traffickers.
However, many of these weapons did not track the cartels and traffickers they were supposed to. In fact, there are theories out there that President Obama and the supporters of anti-gun laws purposely did not activate tracking devices on the firearms, in hopes of swinging the public opinion against guns after Border Patrol Agent, Brian Terry was killed in December of 2010.
Although there have been no formal charges brought against the president or any else in Washington, there are processes going on behind the scenes, attempting to connect the dots. At this point, it is not suspected that President Obama was directly involved. However, if someone close to him was, then this could become his Watergate Scandal.
The fact that we have such reason for an accusation is sad. We do not want to falsely charge others, however someone was responsible for Agent Terry’s death, incidental or on purpose.
That’s all the time we have for today. Thank you for joining me on “What’s Wrong With Washington”. I will see you on Sunday with “Lance’s Weekly Walk.” Also, be sure to tell us what you think by leaving us a message at: http://lponline.wufoo.com/forms/z7x3k7/.
This week our poll question will feature the possible Vice Presidential nominees for Mitt Romney. Be sure to tell us who you like at: http://poll.fm/3obcm. You can also access this poll and many other features through Lance Pisowicz Online, www.wix.com/lancejp/online.
I hope you have enjoyed our broadcast tonight, as much as I have. Thanks again, and God bless you all. Goodnight!
Friday, April 27, 2012
Friday, April 20, 2012
Should We Affirm This Action?
I am Lance Pisowicz and this is, “What’s Wrong With Washington!” Thanks for joining me again today. We’ve got a lot to cover today, so I won’t waste that much time but there are a few things I’d like to mention before we begin. Please do check out my website, Lance Pisowicz Online (www.wix.com/lancejp/online). Also become a subscriber of my Youtube Channel (www.youtube.com/user/lancejponline), like my Facebook (www.facebook.com/lancepisowicz), or follow me on Twitter (www.twitter.com/lancejponline). You can also subscribe to my blogs on blogger (www.wrongwithwashington.blogspot.com and www.lancesweeklywalk.blogspot.com). We normally cover three smaller topics but today I’ve decided we need to devote a little more time to a couple of larger issues in our nation.
To begin with we will take a look at something that is causing quite the uproar in the Supreme Court once again. As many of you are aware, I am a sophomore in high school who is now beginning to look at what my options are for the future. Academically I am solid, near the top of my class. In fact, I actually take more junior classes than I do sophomore classes. What I will most likely do for my undergraduate major is get a degree in business (probably Business Administration). I am not yet sure if I will go out of state, stay in state, or go to school locally and live at home. Whatever the case is, I will be applying to several schools for admission within the next couple of years.
The more I learn about the college application process, the more I learn just how skewed it is. As a white male, I am at the bottom of the barrel. Even with a tiny part of Iroquois in me (I have a 13th great-grandfather who was a Mohawk chief) that evidentially is not enough to receive any favoritism. This is known as Affirmative Action and it has impacted millions of young people in our nation for better and for worse.
Affirmative Action itself was created in 1961 when President John F. Kennedy used the term in a speech. The goal was to increase minority representation in colleges and universities, as well as compensate for previous discrimination against certain groups. In 2003 the United States Supreme Court ruled in favor of affirmative action by a vote of 5 to 4. I suppose discrimination is still surviving and thriving in our nation.
The discrimination is no longer being felt by the minority groups who had suffered through hardships since our nation’s founding. Now a form of reverse-discrimination is threatening the wellbeing of another group. The Supreme Court is now in the process of reviewing another case that they hope to rule on by June of 2013, but the question remains for the moment: Is Affirmative Action constitutional? Second of all, is it ethical?
My viewpoint is this: It is wrong to discriminate against or favor an individual or group on the basis of race or gender. Those are the two key instances in which Affirmative Action is wronging so many Americans. At the end of the day, it should not matter if every student at a college is African American, White, Asian American, or Latino. If they are the best all-around students, then race and gender should be irrevelant.
Two wrongs do not make a right. I umpire baseball, and when I make a poor call I realize I cannot make another call in favor of the team I accidentally wronged. If I did that, I would be disrupting the balance of the game in an unpredictable way. In the same way, you cannot make amends past mistakes by discriminating against other individuals who personally had nothing to do with the past situation. The best thing you can do is apologize, be reconciled, and move on.
I for one do not want to be judged on the fact that I am white or that I am a male. If I were not admitted to a school for that reason, I would be infuriated. If I were admitted because of that reason, I would be mortified. Do minorities honestly need a handicap to keep up with more common ethnicities? I think these people are just as capable as the majority when they are competing for admissions to colleges even when race is not taken into account. If discrimination were to become suspected at a specific university, the government then should step in, investigate, and work for a solution to the problem. But if we continue to practice an unfair method for college admissions to begin with, we have achieved nothing. If we truly are a nation that does not discriminate based on race or gender, then Affirmative Action must be brought to an end. That is the bottom-line.
Now we move on to issue of the Secret Service Scandal. As many of you are aware, the largest scandal in the history of the Secret Service was uncovered. Although the accused members of the Secret Service have not been convicted yet, they are believed to have breached American intelligence security by their “involvement” with prostitutes in Columbia. There are believed to have been at least twelve agents that were involved with the prostitutes. In fact, there are claims by the prostitutes that the men even told them what their purpose in Columbia was. They were preparing for the President’s upcoming trip there in the city of Cartagena.
Now I am a huge proponent of innocence until guilt is proven, but the fact that there are even allegations of such a thing is disgusting. If the men are innocent, to what has our society come to so liberally issue these serious allegations. If the men are guilty, they have embarrassed our nation on a global scale, and potentially revealed a loophole in our national security.
The fact that this scandal joins several others in the past few weeks and months, creates a serious question: Exactly what is going on with the Obama Administration behind closed doors?
In none of these scandals was the president directly responsible, however what happens on a President’s “watch” is a reflection on his term(s) in office. It also makes me wonder what is happening in the even higher positions in our government. Could there possibly be something going on even within the president’s cabinet?
Here’s a good “rule of thumb” offered by a former president that applies to all Americans, particularly those in leadership roles to live by:
“Surround yourself with the best people you can find…” - Ronald Reagan
When one considers what scandals have done to previous Presidents’ legacies, it is easy to see why Obama is so ready to push the issue aside and offer a disclaimer. In many cases, these scandals can doom a presidency. So Mr. President, let me offer this suggestion to you: either choose your friends wisely or we will choose someone else who will.
Thank you for joining me on “What’s Wrong With Washington” today. I will see you on Sunday with “Lance’s Weekly Walk.” Also, be sure to tell us what you think by leaving us a message at: http://lponline.wufoo.com/forms/z7x3k7/.
Be sure to tell us what your thoughts are on Affirmative Action by voting at: http://poll.fm/3nyq4. You can access this poll and many other features through Lance Pisowicz Online, www.wix.com/lancejp/online.
I hope you have enjoyed our broadcast tonight, as much as I have. Thanks again and have a great weekend!
To begin with we will take a look at something that is causing quite the uproar in the Supreme Court once again. As many of you are aware, I am a sophomore in high school who is now beginning to look at what my options are for the future. Academically I am solid, near the top of my class. In fact, I actually take more junior classes than I do sophomore classes. What I will most likely do for my undergraduate major is get a degree in business (probably Business Administration). I am not yet sure if I will go out of state, stay in state, or go to school locally and live at home. Whatever the case is, I will be applying to several schools for admission within the next couple of years.
The more I learn about the college application process, the more I learn just how skewed it is. As a white male, I am at the bottom of the barrel. Even with a tiny part of Iroquois in me (I have a 13th great-grandfather who was a Mohawk chief) that evidentially is not enough to receive any favoritism. This is known as Affirmative Action and it has impacted millions of young people in our nation for better and for worse.
Affirmative Action itself was created in 1961 when President John F. Kennedy used the term in a speech. The goal was to increase minority representation in colleges and universities, as well as compensate for previous discrimination against certain groups. In 2003 the United States Supreme Court ruled in favor of affirmative action by a vote of 5 to 4. I suppose discrimination is still surviving and thriving in our nation.
The discrimination is no longer being felt by the minority groups who had suffered through hardships since our nation’s founding. Now a form of reverse-discrimination is threatening the wellbeing of another group. The Supreme Court is now in the process of reviewing another case that they hope to rule on by June of 2013, but the question remains for the moment: Is Affirmative Action constitutional? Second of all, is it ethical?
My viewpoint is this: It is wrong to discriminate against or favor an individual or group on the basis of race or gender. Those are the two key instances in which Affirmative Action is wronging so many Americans. At the end of the day, it should not matter if every student at a college is African American, White, Asian American, or Latino. If they are the best all-around students, then race and gender should be irrevelant.
Two wrongs do not make a right. I umpire baseball, and when I make a poor call I realize I cannot make another call in favor of the team I accidentally wronged. If I did that, I would be disrupting the balance of the game in an unpredictable way. In the same way, you cannot make amends past mistakes by discriminating against other individuals who personally had nothing to do with the past situation. The best thing you can do is apologize, be reconciled, and move on.
I for one do not want to be judged on the fact that I am white or that I am a male. If I were not admitted to a school for that reason, I would be infuriated. If I were admitted because of that reason, I would be mortified. Do minorities honestly need a handicap to keep up with more common ethnicities? I think these people are just as capable as the majority when they are competing for admissions to colleges even when race is not taken into account. If discrimination were to become suspected at a specific university, the government then should step in, investigate, and work for a solution to the problem. But if we continue to practice an unfair method for college admissions to begin with, we have achieved nothing. If we truly are a nation that does not discriminate based on race or gender, then Affirmative Action must be brought to an end. That is the bottom-line.
Now we move on to issue of the Secret Service Scandal. As many of you are aware, the largest scandal in the history of the Secret Service was uncovered. Although the accused members of the Secret Service have not been convicted yet, they are believed to have breached American intelligence security by their “involvement” with prostitutes in Columbia. There are believed to have been at least twelve agents that were involved with the prostitutes. In fact, there are claims by the prostitutes that the men even told them what their purpose in Columbia was. They were preparing for the President’s upcoming trip there in the city of Cartagena.
Now I am a huge proponent of innocence until guilt is proven, but the fact that there are even allegations of such a thing is disgusting. If the men are innocent, to what has our society come to so liberally issue these serious allegations. If the men are guilty, they have embarrassed our nation on a global scale, and potentially revealed a loophole in our national security.
The fact that this scandal joins several others in the past few weeks and months, creates a serious question: Exactly what is going on with the Obama Administration behind closed doors?
In none of these scandals was the president directly responsible, however what happens on a President’s “watch” is a reflection on his term(s) in office. It also makes me wonder what is happening in the even higher positions in our government. Could there possibly be something going on even within the president’s cabinet?
Here’s a good “rule of thumb” offered by a former president that applies to all Americans, particularly those in leadership roles to live by:
“Surround yourself with the best people you can find…” - Ronald Reagan
When one considers what scandals have done to previous Presidents’ legacies, it is easy to see why Obama is so ready to push the issue aside and offer a disclaimer. In many cases, these scandals can doom a presidency. So Mr. President, let me offer this suggestion to you: either choose your friends wisely or we will choose someone else who will.
Thank you for joining me on “What’s Wrong With Washington” today. I will see you on Sunday with “Lance’s Weekly Walk.” Also, be sure to tell us what you think by leaving us a message at: http://lponline.wufoo.com/forms/z7x3k7/.
Be sure to tell us what your thoughts are on Affirmative Action by voting at: http://poll.fm/3nyq4. You can access this poll and many other features through Lance Pisowicz Online, www.wix.com/lancejp/online.
I hope you have enjoyed our broadcast tonight, as much as I have. Thanks again and have a great weekend!
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