If you’ve been on the internet at some point since Tuesday night (and if you’re reading this, then yes, I’m talking to you), then you’ve probably read one headline or another about the Iowa Caucus, which was one of the first “races” for the Republican presidential candidates. It’s usually supposed to be an accurate early indicator for who will win a political party’s nomination, but what happens when over 120,000 votes are tallied and a candidate leads by only eight votes? Should we even care about these caucuses at all?

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The Middle East, Iraq, Iran, Libya, Recession, Depression, Stimulus, Democrats, Republicans, Congress — sometimes the big issues in today’s world can make your head spin. There’s so much going on and it’s tough to keep up with all the details, but even though it’s hectic, the big issues can have a big impact on your life, your career, and your future. Lucky for you, I’ve taken the  top headlines and condensed them into easy-to-read tidbits with all the info you need to know. And trust me, this is the stuff you need to know.

Are you a fan or a critic of Obama? Were you counting on a new stimulus package this year? How do you feel about Congress’ decision over whether or not to keep troops in Iraq? What issues matter most to YOU?

When I heard this morning that Barack Obama had been awarded this year’s Nobel Peace Prize, I was pretty much speechless.  I’m not entirely sure how to react to this announcement.

On one hand, I’m undeniably an Obama supporter—even if I don’t have a graphic tee with his face emblazoned on it like most of my friends do. I read Dreams from my Father, voted for him (twice), and watched the election results breathlessly last year while furiously checking FiveThirtyEight every ten seconds. I love his eloquence, his poise, and everything he represents: the return of intellectualism to the White House and the possibility of improved race relations across the country. Plus, he graduated from my alma mater, even if he hates talking about it. And his wife is pretty kickass.

On the other hand… when I saw this SNL sketch last week, I couldn’t laugh because I was too busy cringing. I agree with most of the points that the Saturday Night Live crew is making: Obama’s rhetoric has rarely been matched by decisive action. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are still dragging on, healthcare is still a mess, and the recession hasn’t exactly ended, despite what some media outlets are saying. (Also, the sketch itself was just horrifically unfunny. SNL kind of blows this season… but I digress.) Read More »

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: Read More »

Jackie Chan is making people angry.

Old school repubs are scared.

Everyone should share their sex stories.

Forever 21 calls Kim Kardashian fat.

Jen Garner and Ben Affleck having sex problems?

Your daily dose of Chase Crawford.

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The worst part of Thanksgiving is the dogs. Everyone has that one relative with a German shepherd, two Corgis and a Schnoodle/Pug mix. Some of us have more than one of these relatives, and some of us have many, many more than one. Some of these relatives have named their dogs Bill O’Reilly. All of these relatives arrive at every holiday party.

But you can’t just tell someone that you don’t like their dogs. There is no greater insult around the Thanksgiving table; you may as well have stuffed, dressed and roasted nephew Kenny.

Political beliefs work the same way, and in some ways are more annoying, because there’s no practical limit to how many you can stuff into the same party, and they’re usually invisible, unless Uncle Joe’s got some kind of witty hat (“Republicans Screw The Country, Democrats Usually Raise Taxes”). Read More »

It’s been a while since a turned 18 and became legal, but I’m a little embarrassed to admit that I have never cast a vote — not for a local, state, or national election. My first opportunity to vote was the midterm elections in 2006, and I just wasn’t informed enough about the House and Senate to make a smart decision. So I didn’t.

The other thing that paralyzed me, and that made me think it wouldn’t matter if I voted even in the presidential election, was the electoral college. I’m from good old Massachusetts — you know, the first state to legalize gay marriage, the so-blue-we-don’t-even- see-the-color-red state, the most liberal state in the union. There is never a contest about who wins our state’s votes. In fact, the politicians don’t even try; in the last election, I didn’t see a single presidential campaign ad.

So why bother voting? My vote amounts to a spit in the wind, and as long as we’re not talking about national popular vote as an option, things are going to stay that way. Still, though, I felt a renewed urge to cast my vote this year, because more than ever it seems like a year when a tremendous amount is at stake. Like hundreds of millions of others, I’ve seen my country slowly going down the tubes in the past eight years. It’s gotten a lot harder to be proud of my country, and I see the ideals it stands for increasingly obscured by smoke.

That’s when I found out that several states — including my college’s state of New Jersey — have voted to pledge their electoral votes to the winner of the national popular election. Hot damn, my vote counts for one vote again! It’s a very exciting and rebellious move on the part of several states who are tired of only Ohio and Pennsylvania getting all the love.

So I registered! Read More »

Everywhere you go people are talking politics.

Who ya gonna vote for?

What is his stance on foreign policy?

Will there be a debate?

Is he qualified?

Can we survive 4 more years with Repubs running this country?

Can the Dems handle this crisis?!

It is time to stop with the party bickering and focus on bringing the government and this country back together. It is time to unify. And nothing unifies people more than good looking men.

So, since you’re gonna be exposed to all these government dudes anyways (they are deciding our financial future as we speak, and are all over the news), you might as well look at the hotties.

(Editor’s Note: We attempted to find some seriously good looking guys in Congress, but that proved difficult. Seriously…most of them are so old.  We’re bringing you the best of the bunch. You know, guys we wouldn’t drool over on a normal day…but they have power! And they wear suits!)

These dudes make me want to move to Capital Hill. Some even may make me consider switching parties not totally hating the other party. Click on each picture to get the full story. Read More »

Unless you live in a cave, you know that things haven’t been going well for the United States during the past couple of weeks. Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Lehman Brothers and AIG crumbled under the weight of our own idiocy and greed (and are also being investigated by the FBI, yay!), Democrats and Republicans are harshly divided, no one can agree on Bush’s $700 billion bailout, and Washington Mutual was just sold off to JP Morgan.

Oh, also, an asteroid is probably going to come after us some point in the near future.

We here at CC agree that school work is of the utmost importance, so by no means should you blow off that 15-pager on the life cycle of the zebra fish in lieu of our national downward spiral, but perhaps you might want to pour yourself an extra glass of wine this weekend (or if you don’t drink, purchase a nice package of Oreo cookies) and force yourself to relax.

The media is doing its best to scare us, and yes, times are kinda sh*tty, but the best thing we can do as young people is educate ourselves on the issues currently effecting us, process them to the best of our ability, and then tell ourselves to remain calm.

You know what also helps? (find out after the jump) Read More »

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I always scoffed at people when they complained about taxes. “Please,” I would say, “how do you think the government pays for things, hmm? Money doesn’t grow on trees you know. Taxes are a good thing.” This never produced the result I was looking for. Instead of applauding my common sense, or giving me a cookie in appreciation (although I did always suggest this course of action), people rolled their eyes. They sighed. They complained about youth not knowing anything these days.

Now, over the course of my employment history, I have helped 70-year-old women try on bras. I have scooped ice cream for ten hours straight. I have swiped cards at my dining hall after rugby practice lets out and the guys are pulling said cards from the sweaty waistbands of their shorts (um, ew). I fact checked articles on light bulbs and dumpsters all summer. I work hard for my money, darn it, and losing a substantial portion to taxes does not make me happy.

The upcoming election is a hot topic, and the discussion of what’s going to happen to our taxes is part of the reason. People are already paying large portions of their income to our government and it’s always scary to try and figure out just what the next person in office is going to do to your paycheck. Instead of paying for the new suit you need for work, that money just might be sucked into the oblivion of our national deficit.

So what to do? Well, for starters, look at the candidates’ tax proposals. Yeah, you might think that Democrats usually lower taxes for us in the peanuts range of the income scale and Republicans mean tax breaks for the wealthy, but in reality it’s far more complicated. Read More »