POLITICS

Republican Congressman Mark Foley resigned abruptly on Friday after being… POLITICS

Republican Congressman Mark Foley resigned abruptly on Friday after being confronted with evidence of a sexually explicit conversation that he had online with a teenager. Foley was co-chair of the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children and sponsored numerous bills to protect children from predators. The resignation has caused uproar in both parties as they scramble to pick up the open congressional seat.

Henry: Republicans have been gaining steam lately with their noble fight on terror and the big oil companies deciding to lower prices, in a move completely unrelated to the upcoming election. A perverted Republican talking dirty to a congressional pageboy is exactly the kind of scandal the Democrats were looking for.

It’s all politics now. Both parties are scrambling to pick up the now-vacant seat. None of them really seem to care about Foley. It doesn’t seem to bother anyone that for the past decade they’ve been sitting next to a pervert. There’s just the inconvenience for the Republicans to have to fill Foley’s seat with another compassionate conservative, and the Democrats are absolutely ecstatic that they have a chance at another seat in the House. What about the kids Foley has traumatized? How can they be expected to trust politicians after this?

Obviously this is hurting the Republicans the most, and there’s the argument to be made that they may have to step back from there “moral party” image. But by the frenzy the Democrats are in right now, they look more wild and predatory than ever. It’s just more proof that these elected officials have stopped caring about the people they’re sworn to serve and started focusing on their own power.

Maybe they should start looking at themselves and making sure they aren’t the people they’re supposed to protect us from.

Daron: Democrats should not fear allegations of trying to “politicize” the issue by calling for an investigation into the congressman’s actions and why action wasn’t taken against him earlier. There appears to be significant evidence that many powerful members of the House, including House Speaker Dennis Hastert, were well aware of the issue and remained silent.

A 2001-2002 page, Matthew Loraditch, told ABC News that as long as five years ago, his page class was warned by a Republican staff member to “watch out” for Foley. With the Republicans continually hammering away at the Democrats for their lack of “family values,” the Democrats owe a responsibility to voters to investigate and expose what appears to be a glaring gap between the Republicans’ rhetoric and the actions they should have taken to prevent this congressman from abusing his power for his own deplorable ulterior motives.

It is also important to set at ease the minds of all the parents of the many teenagers on Capitol Hill in the page and interning programs. They should not fear that their children are being exploited by those who are supposed to represent our nation’s best interests, or else we risk alienating those likely to enter public service in the future.

‘

TECHNOLOGY

The world’s first female space tourist returned to Earth on Friday after an 11-day journey to the International Space Station. Anousheh Ansari, who emigrated to the United States from Iran at age 16, also made history by being the first Iranian and first Muslim woman in space.

Daron: Ansari may well represent one of the best strategies that the United States has in its campaign to promote the values of democracy and equality it wishes to spread in the Middle East. A telecommunications entrepreneur residing outside Dallas who shelled out $20 million for the journey, she can be pointed to as an example of how ethics of hard work and equality can make it possible for anyone to achieve her dreams

Writing of her experiences living in space, Ansari says, “It’s sort of like on Earth, if you think about it. We have no place else to go, at least not for a while, so if we don’t get along and blow up everything and create a mess of our home, well guess what? We have to live with it.” That’s an example that those on both sides of the “clash of civilizations” could stand to emulate.

Henry: Terrific, more rich people are setting records for odd tourist destinations. Maybe when I’m a world-famous writer, I can be the first balding white male with different color eyes and German ancestry to be in space. Let me just muster up $20 million in spare change.

Maybe we’re promoting our land-of-opportunity image by sending minority and Muslim women into space. Then again, maybe she was rich when she emigrated. Her family moved from Iran in the ’80s because they could buy her a better education in the United States. She founded a telecommunications company with her trust fund and then sold it for $550 million right before its stock dropped from $40 to $5 a share. She’s been accused of insider trading.

So maybe we’re just giving rich, corrupt, corporate Muslim women a chance at reaching their dreams. That’s the real American image we’re promoting.

‘

HEALTH

The Pittsburgh school board banned several food products from being sold in schools, including soft drinks and fried potato chips, in order to combat child obesity. In the 2008-09 school year, even more products considered unhealthy will be eliminated, and the serving size of others will be reduced. The health measures come as a response to a congressional mandate that school districts have wellness policies in place by this school year.

Henry: I understand the motive here, but it’s not going to work. I don’t disagree with offering only healthy foods in public schools, although, if I were still in school, I imagine I’d be pissed about it. Let’s not pretend that this is going to reverse the trend of kids getting fat early. Kids don’t get fat at school; kids get fat at home. Sadly, that’s not going to stop anytime soon. It’s easier to feed your 5-year-old ice cream for breakfast than deal with his screaming, and if parents are eating McDonalds for dinner every night, so are their kids.

The problem with this bill is that it’s really just the government trying to make schools a replacement for parents. I’m not submitting a conspiracy theory, but there is a slow trend of governments taking over responsibilities that should belong to the family. If you don’t want your kids to be fat, teach him how to eat at home and it’ll follow him to school.

Daron: As much as the high school version of myself waiting in the nacho line is going to hate my guts for saying it, this is a welcome development. It also stands as an acknowledgment that schools owe their students a greater service than merely preparing them for standardized tests.

Schools should place the same emphasis that went into enacting this regulation into ensuring that students are learning in an environment dedicated to creating well-rounded human beings — a notion that should be remembered whenever music and art programs are threatened by budget cuts in the No Child Left Behind era.