MattGinsberg's blog

Who is on top and who is on bottom? If you ask the average American, almost everyone will know Paris Hilton, and very few will know Joe Allbaugh. This portrays the screwed up value system of our society and reflects the importance of our priorities as a country. This also, I argue, has a great deal to do with our poor response to Hurricane Katrina.

Allbaugh was Governor George W. Bush's Chief-of-Staff and in 2000 ran the Bush/Cheney presidential campaign. After stealing the White House, Allbaugh was appointed FEMA director. He appointed his college roommate, Michael Brown, deputy director. He stepped down in 2003 and Brownie took over as director. After Katrina hit last month, Allbaugh's private contracting company, The Allbaugh Company was awarded the contract to rebuild New Orleans. Allbaugh also acts as a lobbyist for Halliburton. Even Republicans are disgusted by this. Rep. Tom Davis
(R-VA), chairman of the House Committee on Government Reform added, “I think there are some laws that have to be changed, especially [when
contracting] in emergency situations and the like,"  Read More »

As a student involved with politics, finding a big name speaker is key for attracting members for your cause. As a Democrat however, I find that trying to get a leader or top politician from our party is a lot harder than for the other side. For instance, former President Clinton charges over six figures to come and speak. Jon Stewart, host of the popular Daily Show on Comedy Central could fill a college arena easily, however he asks $200,000 to speak. It's my experience that Bush Sr. and other top Republican speakers do not charge nearly this much to come and speak. Also, the current President Bush and Cheney attend many events such as the College Repulican National Convention.  Read More »

Despite your opinion about filmmaker/author Michael Moore (#1 on Bernard Goldberg's 100 People Who are Screwing up America list), his contentious work and truely progressive attitude mixed with the occasional laugh can sometimes provide much needed humor in the midst of disaster and frustration. I must admit that my opinions on Moore are mixed, but I think this letter puts aside propaganda and partisan/ideological boundries and objectively assesses a situation which has become a horrible failure by this administration and has made the international community laugh and doubt us. Here is the letter Michael Moore wrote on September 11, 2005:  Read More »

Popular Rapper Kanye West lashed out at President Bush during a concert raising aid for Hurricane Katrina victims last week. Appearing two-thirds through the program, he claimed "George Bush doesn't care about black people" and said America is set up "to help the poor, the black people, the less well-off as slow as possible." The show was simulcast from New York on NBC, MSNBC, CNBC and Pax, was aired live to the East Coast, enabling the Grammy-winning rapper's outburst to go out uncensored.

This summer, Hillary Clinton addressed hundreds of students at the annual College Democrats of America Convention in Washington, DC. I was excited to hear her speak but I was disappointed at how she framed her speech and primed her message. She was introduced by a fellow student not as a current Senator, nor as the former first lady, but rather she was introduced as living proof that one can be true to her religion and be a successful Democrat. This had me aghast, as this had little to do with, well anything. It is also quite obvious that Mrs. Clinton has been moving more moderate on a number of issues and appears to be playing up the religion card in hopes of running for President next election. As I left the speech, there were vendors selling all sorts of Hillary '08 gear, everything from pins to mugs to signs.  Read More »

Today Senate Democrats fought to continue the debate on the Defense Authorization Bill. The majority Republicans have been trying to invoke cloture, which would suspend debate and force a vote on this bill after a two day period. This would allow time for a Gun Bill proposed by the NRA to slip through right before the summer session ends later this week. Democratic Senators Reid and Durbin (pictured) along with Levin and Landrieu argued Senators Frist and Warner before a cloture vote. The vote was 50-48 in favor of not invoking cloture. This was a huge victory for Minority Leader Reid and the Democrats, stalling the bill through the August recess so it could be further discussed and amended with the intention of passage in September.  Read More »

If you have watched any of the right-wing media in the past four months, no doubt you've heard the controversy surrounding University of Colorado ethnic studies professor Ward Churchill. This began back in February when some conservatives took offense to his post-September 11th essay written in 2001 titled: "Some People Push Back: On the Justice of Roosting Chickens" In this essay Churchill compares victims of September 11th to 'little Eichmanns' after Nazi Adolph Eichmann. Despite the rather insensitive means of how he posits his argument, Churchill does make a good point. He argues that Americans should not feign innocence after 9/11 when for centuries U.S. foreign policy has slaughtered innocent victims and substantiated violence. Churchill aptly states, 'what goes around comes around.' Whether you agree with him or not, he has illustrated why he is a successful professor and frankly, an asset to the university, as he has made us all think critically of our own actions.  Read More »

Could the next country the United States declares war with be...Morocco? Seems unlikely until you do a little research on current Phosphorus levels. Phosphorus is the most limiting terrestrial element after Nitrogren. It also is the most common component of agricultural fertilizers in the tropics and second most common behind Nitrogen in the temperate world.

The scary part is that there is only 40-60 years left for Phosphorus in the United States. Phosphorus is used to create ADP and ATP and until there is another way to synthesize this, there are no substitutes for it either!  Read More »