‘Straight Talk Express’ derailed

Ry Ellison’s recent letter (“”McCain’s stance on Iraq a matter of principle””) calling John McCain a man of principle is just another example of how out-of-touch the right-wing has become with America and the war in Iraq … the war that they started.

However, Ellison has stooped to an unprecedented low in this year’s newsletters to suggest that the left wants to see America lose the war for political gain. This poorly written Fox News talking point proves that Ellison should probably spend another year as a freshman because he hasn’t grown up yet.

Last time I checked it was the Republicans who said this troop surge was going to fix everything! They said that it would quell the violence and we’d be out of there sooner. Now not only have we sent more troops but also the troops there have seen their tour of duty increase by one-third! In addition to that, the violence has only increased and now we are seeing yet again another deadly month with more American soldiers coming home in body bags.

This notion that we keep our troops there for years and “”stay the course,”” as the Republicans suggest, is foolish at best. Unfortunately, the Republicans want to yet again shout out the opposition (which is now two-thirds of America) and the 29 percent continue to walk off the GOP cliff thinking that throwing gasoline on a fire is going to put it out.

On top of that Ellison speaks of McCain, Giuliani and Romney like they are the Holy Trinity. A new ABC News/Washington Post poll suggests, however, that the two highest negative candidates going into 2008 are Mitt Romney with 54 percent and John McCain with 47 percent saying they refuse to vote for him. Only less than a year ago that number was 28 percent and now it has jumped dramatically.

Hillary Clinton does indeed have 45 percent negative but she also has the highest support base, not to mention the other two Democrats Obama and Edwards are at the bottom tied with only 35 percent of the country strongly rejecting them.

Americans however, don’t reject McCain because he is simply a war supporter. They reject him because he is a supporter of failed foreign policy that has now put this country in more danger than before. For crying out loud, this is the same John McCain who just a few days ago sang “”bomb Iran”” to the tune of the Beach Boys’ “”Barbara Ann.””

If Republicans are pro-victory then perhaps they should stop supporting foreign policies that are not victorious. Last time I checked, this current conflict in Iraq between the Sunnis, Shiites, and Kurds was not necessarily our fight to be a part of.

Joel Shooster political science junior

Guns would make campus safer

I’m sorry, but Michael Hall’s letter (“”Guns breed fear, not safety””) was so far from correct it’s not even funny. I feel more unsafe now on campus than ever before in light of the Virginia Tech tragedy. Having weapon-free zones allows someone to walk in, illegally, with a gun and start shooting.

The police can only respond to a problem once it has been identified and the massacre has begun. Had one student had a gun they could have fought back and if it meant only saving one life it would be more than worth it. I wish we would be allowed to carry a gun if we wish with the right permits and documentation.

Fact is that gun crimes committed by concealed weapons permit holders is almost nonexistent. For every CCW permit 90 people are now safer. Those odds stack heavily in the school’s favor should a problem arise.

CCW-permitted holders should be allowed to carry on campus but only concealed – nothing in plain sight. We need to petition the president to allow permitted students to carry on campus so that a tragedy like this might be prevented from happening again.

John Carlson history junior

Switzerland, U.S. Constitution can guide gun control

At this point, all the discussion about a gun-free campus versus an unrestricted campus weapons policy boils down to two sides of this argument. As one of few moderates left in the country based on the current polarization of political parties that has been occurring in the past few years, I’d like to make two major comments based on the reactions from both of the parties.

Firstly, for the more liberal concern that the freedom to carry weaponry creates crime, I’d like to direct them to the current policy in Switzerland, with one of the lowest crime rates in the world. Each and every Swiss citizen owns a fully automatic machine gun and is trained in the use.

However, people from outside of the country primarily perform the majority of crime within Switzerland, with next to no gun crime or gun-related accidents. It’s not a matter of access to guns that create the current crime trend in America – it’s the moral upbringing and cultural standards that cause them.

Secondly, for some of the conservatives who have been defending their “”Second Amendment right to bear arms,”” kindly cease and desist your butchering of the Constitution of the United States. Your right to bear arms does not come from the Second Amendment. The Second Amendment, rather, defends the right for the states to create their own militias, with regard to the defense of the United States during the early years of its formation.

Currently, few states have militias, if any (though a few do have private militias of debatable legality), as a result of the formation of the National Guard, which has replaced them. If you wish to defend your right to bear arms, kindly look to the Ninth and Tenth Amendments, which keeps the Constitution from being used to deny rights and reserves the rights not enumerated to the states or the people, respectively.

Antonio Villarreal physics and astronomy sophomore