What do we really know about Betty White? Is she really as old as she claims? Or is this “90th Birthday Party” all a sham to get gifts? Trust me, I play that game too. I’ve changed my birthday on Facebook more than once just to soak up a few more “Happy Bday” wall posts. Well President Obama (Or Barack as he likes to be known around here) is also pretty skeptical about the whole thing and he’s asked her to do the responsible thing and release her birth certificate.

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Osama bin Laden is dead. But I’m sure you already knew that. Navy SEALs descended on his compound in Pakistan yesterday, killing him and two others. Apparently, one of bin Laden’s wives was used as a shield during the gunfight. U.S. officials received a tip concerning his whereabouts all the way back in August and have been planning the mission since then. After the White House broke the news, thousands of citizens rushed the White House (the first reportedly being local college students- we do know how to party) and Ground Zero.

The state of Hawaii released President Obama’s birth certificate, hoping to silence the so-called ‘birthers.’ Presidential wannabe Donald Trump reignited the rumors that our President (yep, the same one who just took down Osama bin Laden) was not actually born in the U.S.  On Wednesday, along with a copy of the doc, Obama made an announcement: “I just want to make a larger point,” he said. “We’ve got some enormous challenges out there,” and “sideshows and carnival barkers” (achem, Mr. Trump) can’t distract us from them. Hopefully, this will end the doubts once and for all, but it’s not likely- there are already conspiracy theories surrounding Osama bin Laden’s death.

Tornadoes tore across the South Wednesday, causing devastation and a death toll over 300.  The AP is reporting it as the worst outbreak of tornadoes since 1932. States from Virginia to Mississippi were hit bad- the governor of Alabama said the damage in his state alone was comparable to that of Hurricane Katrina. President Obama visited Tuscaloosa on Wednesday (busy guy) and remarked that he had “never seen devastation like this.” Whole towns and even counties have been flattened. If you’d like to help, FEMA put together a list of charities that are aiding the relief effort.

Last Monday, around 500 criminals escaped from an Afghan prison. The mass exodus was orchestrated by the Taliban, who carried out some intense planning: the tunnel was 1,000 feet long and digging took at least 5 months. Obviously, even though the U.S. just took down one of the most dangerous and notorious terrorists, there is till a lot to worry about.  Afghan officials say the U.S. soldiers stationed near the prison should take at least some of the blame.

Photo of the Week:

This little bridesmaid was unhappy about all the noise spectators were making at the Royal Wedding of Britain’s Prince William and Kate Middleton, but the happy couple didn’t seem to mind

And now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, let’s put the beer down and really take a look at our fearless leader.

Unlike the seemingly general population, I am not an Obama fan. Let me rephrase that: I am not a political Obama fan.

[DISCLAIMER: these are my opinions. I’m a headstrong, non-poli sci major who’s just as entitled to my way of thinking as everybody else is, so hear me out. Before you begin your siege on my political thinking, give me a chance to do some explaining.]

Like any other American, there are some major issues that I place a higher value on than others. Though I didn’t vote for Obama in the election, I did happen to agree with him on two of my most important personal issues: stem cell research and investing in infrastructure. My younger sister has had type 1 diabetes for the past 12 years. Growing up with my (then) six-year-old sister having to constantly worry about her health and poke herself with needles has certainly made an impact on me. When I grew up and learned that there was a way for her to live a happier, more hassle free life, educating myself and advocating for this research became very important to my family and myself.

When President Obama pledged to lift the ban on research and allow more funding for it, I was simply ecstatic.

Similarly,  I think the infrastructure of our country is one of the most basic components to our success, hence the civil engineering degree I’m currently pursuing. When he pledged billions of dollars toward creating jobs in the field (yay!) I was, again, thrilled. This money and those jobs created would someday lead to my future career success, so I was naturally in full support of what he had to say. He promised 2.5 million jobs. How could anyone, especially in this economy, not get behind that?

But what’s come of it all now?

As far as stem cell research, he’s made some baby steps in what could be one of the biggest scientific fields of the future with the potential to save countless lives year in and year out. He lifted the ban on the research, yet hasn’t put any money toward it. And that’s….it. What has he done about infrastructure? And all those jobs? And the unemployment rate?

Maybe I’m misreading all the signs (stock market, housing market, job market…), but it seems Obama hasn’t fulfilled any of his promises to America. To his credit, Obama has tackled a very important issue, making major progress in integrating “gays” into the army with no questions asked. But that’s the biggest change we’ve seen.

Where’s all that so-called “change we can believe in”?

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to hate on our president; I think he’d be a great guy to grab a beer with. Maybe we could even have a doggie play date or grab Michelle and hit up JCrew. But as far as leading this country and fixing the system he deemed to be broken, well, President Obama is definitely falling short.

President Obama is definitely Presidential material -  he’s got charisma and an uncanny ability to captivate audiences, he is a brilliant and well educated, he’s overcome many difficulties in his life and he’s worked very hard to get to where he is now. I do believe he can bring some change to our country and get us all to rally behind him, I’m just hoping the next three years are more progressive than his first.

In honor of President’s Day, here are some tips on staying healthy and fit from  the most powerful couple in the world:

Presidential Tip #1: Always schedule time for exercise.
You know it’s important, so schedule it like everything else in your life!  You can always find ways to fit it in – Michelle used to work out at 4:30am and Barack starts most days in the gym.  Not even constant traveling deters him; during his presidential campaign, Obama’s aides “arranged workouts for him in several dozen states. The staff called gyms a few days before his arrival and persuaded them to close late or open early to oblige the candidate’s schedule.”

Gyms on campus are usually open pretty early and late, so we don’t have to worry about making special arrangements (or having assistants to do so)! Still feel like you don’t have time? Even if you’re losing a bit of precious sleep, the benefits of exercising probably outweigh the half hour of sleep you might lose (or less if you work out right!). Obama has the same problem with the “trade off  between sleep and working out,” but insists that a workout makes him feel much better throughout the day.

Presidential Tip #2: Don’t let bad habits stop you from exercising.
Did you know that Obama smokes the occasional cigarette when he’s stressed? He knows it’s unhealthy, and he’s practically quit, but sometimes he slips up. Clearly he’s not perfect, and neither are we. If our president doesn’t waste time beating himself for a bad choice every now and then and doesn’t let it deter him from continuing to try and live a healthy lifestyle, we shouldn’t either. Get out there and exercise – forgive and forget your bad habits.

Presidential Tip #3: Plan what you’re going to do beforehand.
Obama has his routine pretty set in stone – 4 days of weightlifting, 2 days of cardio. So when he gets to the gym, he knows exactly what he’s going to be doing. He’s even been spotted following exercises written on a sheet of paper. Why would we go to the gym without a presidential agenda of our own? Having a list ensures you won’t be there all day deciding which muscles to work, which cardio machine you want to use, or how many reps you should be doing. And you’ll feel much better after accomplishing the items on your list!

Presidential Tip #4: Find out what you love and use it to exercise!
Obama loves basketball. While on the campaign trail, he “got in the habit of shooting hoops with friends on the days of primary elections, and that carried over to such major events as his acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention…” Clearly, exercise doesn’t have to be all treadmill and free weights. Just find out what kind of exercise you actually enjoy doing and you’ll find yourself wanting to stick with it!

Presidential Tip #5: Work out with friends.
…It’s just more fun that way! Michelle worked out in the wee hours of the morning with a friend, and Barack had some friends fly in to play basketball with him. Having workout partners keeps you motivated and accountable.

Presidential Tip #6: Eat mostly healthy, but don’t feel bad when you slip up.
Michelle’s got our backs on this one! She goes by the 90-10 rule. If 90% of the time you’re eating healthy, don’t feel bad about a relatively unhealthy 10%. The Obama’s live by this mantra – they know sometimes you need to treat yourself! To help maintain this healthy lifestyle, they keep a ton of healthy food around (such as bowls of apples) and only eat out once every few weeks.

Presidential Tip #7: Know why you exercise and let that be a natural motivation.
If you are more aware of the reasons you exercise, you’ll be more likely to continue exercising. Take out a sheet of paper and write down reasons you exercise. How do you feel during? How do you look afterwards? How do you FEEL afterwards? Obama is well aware of his reasoning. He says exercise is his “key to remaining fresh and focused in the face of a punishing schedule.” He also says he uses exercise “to clear my head and relieve me of stress.” Why do you exercise? Post it somewhere you can clearly see and let it motivate you everyday!

And there you have it – a workout fit for a President.
Seriously, if the leader of our country can find time to get fit, so can you.

The week the White House launched a website called Reality Check, obviously aimed at the younger “internet set” to voice its side of the story on Obama’s healthcare reform and answer some of the questions that have arisen. This is one of those issues that I’ve heard about all. over. the place. But the sad truth is, I haven’t been listening much, and either have a lot of other people our age. It suddenly occurred to me that I have heard an awful lot about what our parents and grandparents think on the issue, but next to nothing on it from girls like me.

Are you all like me and just not paying attention, or is it just that we aren’t talking it out?

Well here’s your chance, ladies. If you don’t know what’s going on, it’s time to get informed. If you do, well, duke it out. I want to know what you all think.

But first, we all gotta know what’s up. If you’ve been a little lax in your news watching (like me) or if you just love legalese, here’s the official barackobama.com PDF on the healthcare reform plan. Now, if you weren’t patient enough to wade through all of that (because who is?), I’ve slogged through a lot of the recent news on both sides and here’s the gist:

On the “pro” side: The Obama plan addresses some of the big problems with healthcare right now – the high costs, the hoops doctors and patients have to jump through, the big money insurance companies make at the public’s expense and the way that the poor get the worst level of healthcare (if they’re lucky enough to get any at all). The Obama plan, it seems, would create an option where the government would help subsidize certain qualifying insurance plans to make them more affordable for everyone, particularly low-income people who can’t afford insurance now.

There have been a number of assurances that the new program would be strictly voluntary, particularly aimed at those without healthcare now. And there are plenty of modern countries, like the UK, that have government run healthcare systems, which many argue are more effective than our own. Even in the US, many note, government-run systems like Medicare do a better job of providing care than private HMOs, which could be a strong point for a bureaucratically based system, as well as the heavier regulations that would come along with government control.

Perhaps the biggest point on the the “pro” list is the basic fact that our current system just isn’t working. Community hospitals have had a hard time in the last few years, with many going bankrupt and being replaced by for-profit facilities that do much less for lower-income groups. Many healthcare workers have lost jobs and both the cost of procedures and the amount of time it takes to get them approved and covered has only gone up.

On the “con” side: The details are still a little sketchy on how exactly things would work with the plan due in large part to the fact that the program actually only exists in the form of several different drafts, leaving a lot of important facets to the reform left to be nailed down.

Some say that the system for funding the $1 trillion program (a major expenditure in still difficult economic times) would probably backfire and end up with the middle-class footing most of the bill. It also seems likely that those who can already afford healthcare would hold onto their superior plans, with many doctors catering to them, leaving those with the government subsidized plan with mediocre coverage and facilities once again.

There are also many who balk at the level of government control that would be involved, even suggesting that certain healthcare rights might be lost in the program, and no one wants that. Despite assurance that no one will be forced to use the government plan, there’s a big question about how government subsidized insurance can co-exist with a for-profit plan. The government plan would almost necessarily undercut the current insurance companies (otherwise, it’s existence would be pointless), potentially causing the for-profit companies to fail and ultimately pushing everyone into the subsidized insurance - in direct opposition with what they seem to be trying to do.

Finally, one of the big beefs about the current bill is that it has been put together very quickly and is intended to be pushed through in just weeks with very little concrete information out there about what exactly the whole affair is about.

Obviously there’s still a lot of questions up in the air right now and the Obama administration has been criticized from both sides about how poorly the information about the new bill has been distributed. Maybe the new website will help, but it looks like many of the major news sources have already cast their vote against the effort. Still, with the current healthcare system taking some hard hits, it’s obvious something needs to be done.

So what do you think ladies? Am I getting it all wrong? Is the new healthcare reform a good idea? The best of a bunch of bad ideas? Or just a bad idea altogether?

We’re back with another edition of G.W.W.E. (Guys We Wanna Eff)!

This week, the release of photos of the Obama girls’ new puppy, Bo (So. Effing. CUTE!), had all of America swooning. But there’s another Bo who’s pulling my heartstrings—of course I’m talking about the sublimely funny Bo Burnham, who’s heating up the internet with his musical comedy.

At just 18, Bo has become the epitome of modern celebrity: an internet star who is breaking out big time into film and music. He has deferred his admission from the NYU class of 2012 to travel the world with his one-man “pubescent musical comedy” act, singing songs about everything from race and sex to family matters. He regularly pokes fun at himself in his songs, like in “My Whole Family,” where he laments about his parents thinking he is fat.

You can check out his not-so-innocent ditties on his YouTube channel or on his website, which includes links to his iTunes downloads and Twitter feeds. My particular favorite video of his, which can be found here, features Bo on piano before a large studio audience, where he is introduced by pop star Katy Perry. (Katy, please go back to kissing girls, and leave Bo’s cherry chapstick for the rest of us, okay?)

I actually heard about Bo from a College Candy reader, and immediately after discovering him, I sent links to all my friends (sorry, girls, for harassing you). With his mature-yet-boyish good looks, he’s like the best high school crush I never had. Oh, and did I mention he’s reportedly working on a new film with Judd Apatow? Talent + funny = eff me, please.

March Madness kicks off today with the first 16 teams competing to move ahead, and while one CollegeCandy writer isn’t into the games, everyone else in the world is.

It’s the most exciting three weeks of the year for college sports as the entire country stops everything they are doing (seriously, even President Obama is trying to squeeze some game viewings in between his NATO meetings) to see which college basketball team is the best in the country.

Not into basketball? Well, then it’s an excuse to paint your face and drink beer on a weeknight. Not that you really needed an excuse…

Everyone is buzzing about the Presidente’s NCAA picks (UNC to go all the way?). Do you agree? Who do you think will take the title this year? Let out your school pride in the comments section below!

Now, I know this is a lot of money he is looking to spend, and I know that everyone is wondering where all this money is going to come from, but we kinda need all the help we can get, no?

I’m not going to pretend I am 100% educated on this plan; when it comes to economics, just the word gives me a headache (I’m a right brained kind of gal). I do know enough, however, to know that this country is in the crapper right now and there are quite a few things this stimulus could really help with.

So, here are a few reasons I’m in full support of Obama’s Stimulus Plan. Bring on the money!

1) I like shopping. I miss shopping. And I think all you ladies out there can agree that the current economy has put a damper on this venture. Even all those great sales are going un-shopped because I can’t even justify a sale purchase. Horrifying, I know.

2) I wouldn’t mind having a job after graduation. Don’t get me wrong – spending the next year watching The Real Housewives and eating popcorn on the couch sounds good, but I’m not sure my parents would agree. I just feel like I’ve been going to school forever, so, you know, having a job might make sense. Not to mention…

3) I have a ton of student loans to I have to pay off. How am I supposed to do that without a job or money?

4) 2 words: Britney Concert. I need some major funds if I wanna catch Britney live. And, duh, I do.

5)  Frankly, I’m sick of all the depressing news. Foreclosures, unemployment, banks closing… If nothing else, this little (ok, HUGE) stimulus package will add a little sunshine to a rather gloomy year. Normally I’d turn to beer for that, but – thanks to the recession – I can’t afford it.

For the last ten years of her life, Ledbetter has fought for equal pay rights in the work place for women. After experiencing pay-based discrimination because of her sex (and learning about it through anonymous letters in her work mailbox), Ledbetter filed a complaint of gender discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). Making a long story short (however, you should read the whole story over at CNN), President Obama stepped in and signed the Lilly Ledbetter Equal Pay Restoration Act this past week making the fight for women’s rights and equality better upheld through the law.

While I feel gratitude for Ledbetter’s ongoing battle with the Supreme Court and Congress to pass this act that will give women the rights they warrant and money that is rightfully theirs, I know that work is still left to be done.

It may seem hard to believe, but to this day, full-time working women get paid “on average, only 77 cents for each dollar full-time working men get paid,” according to the Wage Project. This happens in every occupation across the nation, and while it impacts women in different ways, the reality of it is that hardworking women with outstanding college degrees lose money in their pockets simply because of their sex.

Think about it. Imagine working at the same place, doing the same job as a man (who has the same degree and amount of experience as you), putting in the same hours, only to find out he is, in fact, making more money than you on an annual basis. How is that fair? It’s not, at all.

But it is reality.

Amazing women across the nation have been fighting for women’s rights for equal pay for decades now. In 1963, the Equal Pay Act (EPA) was signed by John F. Kennedy in hopes to help stop the divide within the work place. While it drew attention to issues involving work discrimination because of sex, it did not necessarily revolutionize the issue over night. Nearly 50 years ago, when the EPA was signed, women were only making 55 cents to the male dollar. In the last four and a half decades, only 22 more cents have gone into making up for those earnings.

As a young woman about to enter the workplace after college, I am outraged to know that I won’t make what my fellow male peers will. However, while it is scary to know that such discrimination still exists, I do feel some relief knowing that laws are out there to protect us, and a President looking out for us, too.