The GOP Should be Ignored

Ever since President Obama's election in 2008, the Republican party has made it quite clear how they feel about pretty much anything he or the Democrats have proposed for legislation. It doesn't matter what the subject is, whether immigration reform, the economic stimulus, healthcare reform, Wall Street/banking reform, energy independence, offshore drilling, etc., whatever the president or the Democrats propose, the GOP will shoot it down.

This type of petulant stubbornness, that whatever the Democrats propose is bad, evil, irresponsible, etc., is something that a 5 year old would do after having their sibling receive a candy bar instead of themselves. If you want to see just how absurd American politics have become, look no further than the recent election in the United Kingdom: the opposition party assumed control of the government, a new Prime Minister was elected, and the three main parties then proceeded to attempt to engage in an actual discourse about how to go about fixing the country's problems. As opposed to the United States, in which the minority party refuses to take part or suggest anything substantive toward a debate about how to lead the country, as well as having several "grass-roots" protests with racial overtone spring up, not to say anything of the negative influence of Fox News broadcasts, and the differences between the adult (the United Kingdom) and child (the United States) becomes quite clear.

The conservative wing in the country has become so warped and polarized that many critics, liberal and conservative alike, are questioning just what has gotten into them. You know the Right are way off their rocker when Glenn Beck (!) calls George W. Bush (!) a progressive.

It's also no coincidence that the amount of lies and slander thrown at President Obama is insanely high, much higher than the amount in 2004 against either John Kerry (a Democrat) or George W. Bush (a Republican). Since they have no facts, no substance, no credibility, and no authentic ideas supporting their criticism of Obama (and there are things you can criticize him for), conservatives have been forced to revert to the lowest level: that of a spurned 14 year old girl whose best friend gets the boy she secretly has a crush on.

The GOP is not content with simply making up lies about their political opponents. They want to have their cake and eat it, too. Blatant hypocrisy is so easy to spot with the Republican Party, it's almost not even worth pointing out all of the fallacies and contradictions of their statements. Almost.

Recently, President Obama has received criticism over his handling of the oil spill crisis in the Gulf of Mexico. How would a Republican president have handled it differently, though? Let's ask Sarah Palin:



Not a single Republican voted for health care reform. Republicans stayed away from voting for the economic stimulus, reigning in Wall Street, or reforming the banking system, and seem intent on filibustering almost every single piece of legislation proposed by the Democrats. If the Republicans refuse to participate in an adult discussion with the Democrats, and are casting absolutely no votes whatsoever towards meaningful reform that has the good of the American people in mind, and with no ideas of their own for how to fix America's problems, and their credibility hanging by a thread due to the influence of Fox News and the outrageously false ramblings of members of the Conservative Right and the Tea Party, the Republican Party is therefore not a part of the political landscape.

It's as if they are not there, and as such, they should be ignored. What they say has no truth or substance, and they refuse to positively contribute to any debate whatsoever. It's as if they are not there, and they should be ignored. With a majority (for the time being) in both the House and the Senate, the Democrats need to use this opportunity to pass meaningful legislation without the participation of the so-called Party of No. Failure to do so will simply give the Republicans an opportunity to emerge from the void that they are currently mired in, which is something the country cannot afford to do.

Was "Own the Podium" A Success?

The 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics saw host nation Canada end up with 14 gold medals, more than any other competing nation and the most they have ever gotten at an Olympics. National pride was evident from coast to coast in this self-described polite and humble country, as evidenced by the selling of every single pair of those famous red mittens (about 3.5 million).

Much of the credit for this record haul can go to the Own the Podium program, developed in 2005 with the stated intentions of improving Canadian performance at the Olympics through increased funding for athletes. Two of the goals of the program are to "place first in the overall medal count at the 2010 Winter Olympic Games" and "place in the top 12 nations in medal count at the 2012 Summer Olympic Games".

The first test of the effectiveness of Own the Program was at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The official website of Own the Podium says that Canada had a target of a top-16 finish, which they accomplished by finishing tied for 13th in overall medals. Success! Or, wait. Not quite. According to how the rest of the world measures successful nations at the Olympics, by gold medals won, Canada finished in 18th place, with only 3 out of 18 won. By overall medals, Canada achieved their objective, but not by gold medals.

Canadians went to the streets in huge numbers to celebrate the Winter Olympics success

Fast forward to the end of the Vancouver Games. The delirium over Canada's amazing feat of capturing 14 gold medals exploding over the country in an orgy of chest-thumping and flag-waving. While the host nation ended on a high note, a few days earlier at the Games and everyone was getting down on themselves due to Canada's low placing at the medal table. Excuses were rampant, criticism of Own the Podium was all the rage, and the amount of money spent on Own the Podium was seen as unjustified, considering the results. Federal funding of the program in the future was even put in doubt. In fact, at the time, it seemed more like the United States team which was "borrowing" the podium (the U.S. would go on to accumulate more medals at this Winter Olympics than they had ever done, topping the medal table for the first time in decades).

Though it seemed, about a week before the end of the games, that Canadians were forcing themselves to be consoled with the prospect of winning in Hockey, by the end of the Vancouver games, the nation was on a high, due to winning several golds in curling, speed skating, and ice hockey. Success!

Or was it? Yes, Canada won more gold medals than any ever has. That's an undeniably amazing result. But it wasn't the main intention for Own the Podium, as stated by the program's official website. It seems that, just like for the Beijing Olympics, the program was justified in calling victory only when it suited them, by turning the tables around on what "success" meant. Canada got 3 gold medals at the Beijing Summer Olympics, but received 14 at the Vancouver Winter Olympics. At the Summer Games, Canada told themselves they did well to finish in 13th place, even though they were actually 18th. At the Winter Games, Canada told themselves they were number one, though if they had measured themselves how they had in 2008 (and at every other Olympics), they would have been in third, a distant 11 medals behind the United States.

In the end, it doesn't matter too much how one labels success, only that they are consistent in how they call it. Yelling about being number one sounds hollow when just a few days before the entire program was being lambasted for failure to gain enough medals (not just gold).

So, what's it gonna be? Gold, or overall medals? The United States considers success at an Olympics in terms of overall medals. If they finished with less gold medals than other medals, which is what happened, they'd be fine with that. The rest of the world measures success in terms of gold medals won. What will happen in London 2012 if Canadian athletes win more gold than silver or bronze, but finish outside of the target spot? Will that be successful? If they win only one or a few gold medals, but enough silver and bronze to achieve a top-12 finish, will that be successful? Would it vindicate Own the Program? Only time will tell, but it shouldn't be too much to ask for clear, unbiased opinions in regards to results.

Music You Gotta Check Out

Kid Cudi

A lot of people already know about this guy, but if you haven't already, you need to listen to Kid Cudi. The rapper from Cleveland first made himself known in 2009, with the hit single "Day' n' Nite", which shows off his chill and mellow style of rapping. Cudi's got style, maybe too much even, as he dresses like a hipster (wearing overly-large glasses for no apparent reason) and hangs out with other hipsters, like Frenchman David Guetti. His album "Man on the Moon: The End of Day" has a plethora of catchy songs that will get stuck in your head for days, while he also got some notables to feature on certain songs - Kanye West and Common on "Make Her Say", as well as Ratatat and MGMT on "Pursuit of Happiness". Cudi's come a long way in a short time, but expect to see him just get even bigger.

Kid Cudi - Pursuit of Happiness (feat. Ratatat and MGMT)

B.O.B.

North Carolina's B.O.B., aka Bobby Ray, just released his debut album "B.O.B. Presents: The Adventures of Bobby Ray", and it's fantastic. Bobby made a bunch of mixtapes before the outbreak of his first album, and the evolution of his writing and rapping is clearly evident on the new cd. B.O.B. has some great rhymes and his lyrics run the gauntlet from beautiful poetry to biting criticism (as evident on "Haterz Everywhere" or "Fuck You"). His passion is clearly evident though, and he's just going out there having fun doing his thing. While B.O.B. hasn't broken through and become as well-known as more established rappers, such as Eminem, his songs are still dope, and he should get the credit he deserves.

B.O.B. - "Not Love"

Chiddy Bang

Philly-based duo Chiddy Bang met while they were at Drexler University. Chiddy, aka Chidera Anamege, raps while Noah Beresin, aka Xaphoon Jones, mixes up popular songs by bands like MGMT and Passion Pit to create a cool-sounding mish-mash of hip-hop electronica that comes off amazingly well. Though mixing pop songs with rap is nothing new, there's something different about these two that makes them stand out. Though they don't have an album out yet, the two have made some mixtapes that can be accessed through the internet, and their song "Opposite of Adults" is a hit on youtube. Check them out.

Chiddy Bang - "Opposite of Adults"