Ed Rendell Video

Ed Rendell proposed many good plans in the video about the budget crisis and how it is going to affect high school/college students. First of all, I thought that it was a very good idea for him to make this video and talk directly to the students who are the ones that are going to be hurt by all of this debt in the future. He spoke about loans and how kids are still going to be able to afford college. I also liked how he took student questions from all over state, and it seemed like he really cared about what the students thought and wanted to communicate his message directly to them. One really good plan that he proposed was that he would increase the amount of loans by legalizing video poker. He plans to put all of the revenue from video poker towards these new and higher loans. This is a good way not only to increase loan amounts but also to combat black market and illegal gambling. Another plan that Rendell mentioned was about consolidating the school districts. Honestly, I don't think this would help anything and I think it may just be a hinderance to student performance. However, overall he had some great plans that I can't wait to see put into action.

The Controversy Over Michelle Obama's Princeton Thesis

As the First Lady of the United States, Mrs. Michelle Obama has a very powerful position in the country. Mrs. Obama has been looked up to for being a genuine, honest, and admirable woman. But recently, news has come out about Michelle Obama that is a little disturbing. Many have been questioning Mrs. Obama's senior thesis at Princton University. The thesis, titled "Princeton-Educated Blacks and the Black Community" was written under her maiden name, Michelle LaVaughn Robinson, in 1985. The paper makes a number of statements on race and talks about her status as a black student at a prominent University, and her place in the University and the world as well. “I have found that at Princeton, no matter how liberal and open-minded some of my white professors and classmates try to be toward me, I sometimes feel like a visitor on campus; as if I really don’t belong. Regardless of the circumstances under which I interact with whites at Princeton, it often seems as if, to them, I will always be black first and a student second.”Obama wrote that the path she chose by attending Princeton would likely lead to her "further integration and/or assimilation into a white cultural and social structure that will only allow me to remain on the periphery of society; never becoming a full participant."Perhaps one of the most germane subjects approached in the thesis is a section in which she conveyed views about political relations between black and white communities. She quotes the work of sociologists James Conyers and Walter Wallace, who discussed "integration of black official(s) into various aspects of politics" and notes "problems which face these black officials who must persuade the white community that they are above issues of race and that they are representing all people and not just black people," as opposed to creating "two separate social structures." The 1985 thesis provides a look into of Michelle Obama's thoughts as a young woman, with many of the paper's statements describing the student's world as seen through a race-based prism.
Many people see Mrs. Obama's paper as being somewhat racist towards whites, but that is not the only controversy surrounding the First Lady's thesis. When confronted about the thesis, Princeton University stated that they would not release the thesis to the public until after the general election. Therefore, on November 5th, 2008, the thesis was released to politico.com. Princeton most likely withheld the thesis due to the requests of the Obama campaign.
Personally, I have no problem with the statements that Mrs. Obama stated in her paper. They were her thoughts as a young woman, and those who criticize these thoughts need to think about how she has changed since those 24 years have past. Times were different back then for blacks. The differences weren't as drastic as the differences between now and the 1960's, but it was different none the less. No one should be criticizing the First Lady for what she wrote 24 years ago. However, I do have strong disapproval for the fact that the paper was not released until after the election. I think that the public should be allowed to access these kinds of things if they wish to, especially since the public can access any Princeton graduate's thesis by contacting the University if they wish. Had the paper been released before the election, the words she wrote 24 years ago should not have influenced their vote. But never the less, the people deserve to be well informed.

Michelle Obama's Thesis can be read at -
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0208/8642.html