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The 2007-2008 school year has come to a close and it's time for the good times to roll. Congrats to new Vanderbilt grads and Torch-ers Kevin McNish, Meredith Trezise, George Jiang, and Nick Rueter! Though we're closing down shop here at the main Torch site (like the new design?), we will be blogging all summer long at Right-Wing Vitriol. See you over there!

Rites and Wrongs

Ted_spangler_web This year, Rites of Spring, held on April 18 and 19, will host headliners Spoon and Lil’ Jon.  A little over a month ago, the Hustler carried the announcement.  In the weeks that followed, various publications praised the Music Group, a subsidiary of the Vanderbilt Programming Board for their choices.

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Making Minority an Issue: America and the Victim

Andrew_bouchard_web On Thursday, March 20, the Middle Eastern Student Association (MESA) hosted “Middle Eastern Night” in the Board of Trust Room and Ballroom of the Student Life Center, sharing their culture and heritage with a wide cross-section of the Vanderbilt Community. The undergraduates, graduate students, staff, and faculty in attendance were treated to a delicious meal donated by Athens family restaurant, belly dancing from professionals and students alike, and the comedic act “Axis of Evil.” All of these events celebrated Middle Eastern culture and educated attendants through inclusion. However, one aspect of the evening ironically did just the opposite, and is indicative of a larger problem in American society.

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Rear-VU Mirror: A Senior's Take

Nick_rueter As another school year comes to an end, and as my time as an undergraduate approaches its conclusion, I would like to reflect upon my experience at Vanderbilt and share some thoughts about both its past and future.

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Greed for Green?

Kevin_mcnish_webSee if the law takes from some persons what belongs to them, and gives it to other persons to whom it does not belong. See if the law benefits one citizen at the expense of another by doing what the citizen himself cannot do without committing a crime. Then abolish this law without delay, for it is not only an evil itself, but also it is a fertile source for further evils because it invites reprisals.” Frédéric Bastiat, The Law

It’s that time of year again, when your hard-earned AcFee-payer dollars head to the coffers of nearly every sort of organization you can imagine. That Vanderbilt currently funds special interest groups through mandatory activity fees will come as a surprise to nobody. Many of these groups bring worthwhile diversity to the cultural, political, and extracurricular scenes here at Vanderbilt. When groups representing a particular political agenda or ideological viewpoint receive funding, opposite and complementary groups are likewise funded to ensure that a viable marketplace of ideas exists. Consider, for example, that AcFee both funds the Torch, our conservative and libertarian commentary magazine, as well as Orbis, our progressive counterpart. Likewise, the Advocacy Council, which includes College Libertarians, College Republicans, and College Democrats among other groups, receives AcFee funding for the promotion of the marketplace of ideas.

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Seven "New" Not-so-Deadly Sins

Alice_lyons A couple of weeks ago, several news organizations released the story that the Catholic Church had updated the Seven Deadly Sins by adding seven more. Organizations such as Fox News, the London Telegraph, and BBC News reported that damaging the environment, genetic manipulation, abortion, excessive wealth, contributing to socioeconomic gaps, pedophilia, and drug dealing were the seven “new” deadly sins. These new sins were based on an interview  with Archbishop Gianfranco Girotti in L’Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper, where he stated that because the world is becoming increasingly global, sin takes on a new global dimension. News organizations jumped at this information and reported that the Vatican had altered its well known list and added these seven new more global sins.   

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Leading the Way to Ideas

Dougals_kurdziel_web On February 27, conservatives lost an icon – arguably, the founder of the modern conservative movement, and the “scourge of liberalism.”  More importantly, however, America lost, in William F. Buckley, was a great American thinker, who, from an age not more advanced than our own, began to shape the intellectual, cultural, and political dialogue of this country.

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General Advocates Realism in Middle East

Sarah_hoff_mughsot General John Abizaid, perhaps IMPACT’s most distinguished guest for 2008, had a surprise for listeners during his speech.  Most listeners expected to hear a long talk justifying the war in Iraq.  Indeed, a group from the Middle Tennessee Veterans Association handed out copies of a formal letter to the General asking him to address the war and condemn it along with them.  But Abizaid had a different goal in mind. In keeping with the theme of IMPACT this year (Middle East Meets West), he barely mentioned the war at all.  Rather, he discussed military organization in the Middle East, and he pinpointed what he believes to be the four primary “problems” of the region. 

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Ayaan Hirsi Ali Speaks Bravely and Freely about Islam

Mike_warren_web Last month’s IMPACT Symposium brought a relatively unknown but highly influential contemporary figure to campus. Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a Somalian-born former Dutch MP, spoke on the first night of the annual series, which had the theme this year of “Middle East vs. West.” This theme could very well have been designed with Hirsi Ali specifically in mind; the former Muslim speaks and writes about the incompatibility that exists between Western liberal society and the restrictive culture of Islam, particularly in areas that implement or attempt to implement sharia law.

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Beijing: Olympic-Sized Problems

Michael_semeraro_web I am not one for superstition usually, but the fear of Friday the 13th may have some merit.  To be clear, I am speaking of Friday, July 13th 2001, when the International Olympic Committee (IOC) met in Moscow to decide the host city of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games. For those of you who have been living under a rock for the past seven years, in the second round of voting the games were awarded to Bejing, the capital of China. Yes, Beijing, the capital of the biggest communist nation in the world and the city that is known for its orange, polluted skies.

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Spitzer: Caught With His Pants Down

Mike_sandler If I were to look up the word “hypocrite” in the dictionary, I would open up to a picture of Eliot Spitzer—possibly wearing nothing but long, black socks. Spitzer, or Client Number Nine, now joins the rest of the nation in watching his shameful career go down the drain. I, for one, am satisfied. Not that I subscribe to a belief in karma, but that does appear to be what’s going on here, and I am delighted to see it. Spitzer made a career out of attacking legal activity with illegitimate reasoning in order to further his own political career. In the process, he ruined the lives of those involved, many of whom lost everything they had worked for—everything that is deserved by a successful, lawful, hard-working American. Now, with the revelation of Eliot Spitzer’s prostitution scandal, his life is essentially over. Justice is being served.

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Obama Squanders Chance to Discuss Race

Frannie_boyle_web Democratic candidate Barack Obama made a speech last week that apparently holds historical potential for some Americans.  This is one of those speeches that people say will be analyzed by our children in classrooms across the country for years to come.  It was thought that Obama would be making this speech in order to distance himself from the radical viewpoints of his pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright, but he also used this opportunity to discuss race as an issue in the United States and its relation to his campaign.

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Fed's Fixes Fund Future Failures?

The recent flurry of activity by the Federal Reserve is bold, daring, and unprecedented – but is it good?  After years of gradually increasing the federal funds rate, the Fed has responded to recent recessionary economic indicators by slashing the federal funds rate, lowering the discount rate, and financially backing the purchase of one private financial institution by another.  These actions have stymied markets and kept the “recession” from getting much worse, but we have to ask what effect these expansionary monetary policies will have on future inflation.  Sure, it may help us out now, but what happens when ailing banks expect the fed to bail them out in the future?  What happens if people’s long-term inflation expectations are raised by the Fed’s lending rampage?

Continue reading "Fed's Fixes Fund Future Failures?" »

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LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

  • With the publication of this issue, I conclude my year as Editor-in-Chief of this fine newspaper feeling a great sense of pride.

    First of all, I am grateful for such a talented, enthusiastic, staff, and owe my sincere thanks for all of the efforts that you put into this publication. I am proud of you for what you have done and how you have done it, and I hope that you’ve enjoyed working for The Torch as much as I have enjoyed seeing all of you improve it and craft it into what it is today. You have made my job easy.

    I also would like to send my appreciation all those readers, subscribers, and donors who have supported The Torch – and those who have disagreed with us – both this year, and in years past. I think that you, too, should feel proud to be a part of something unique at Vanderbilt, which, thanks to you, has grown year after year.

    This paper’s two Associate Editors, Katherine Miller and Mike Warren, deserve a special note of gratitude. An entire page is not enough to convey their talents and the contributions they have made to The Torch, but I know their influence has been clearly visible this year, and will no doubt continue to be so over the next two years. More importantly, though, as fortunate as I am to have them as coworkers, I feel even luckier to call Katherine and Mike my close friends.

    In closing, I have tried my best to fulfill this paper’s mission statement, and to make it enjoyable to read and to work for. This year has been a tremendous learning experience, and I hope that I have succeeded in these goals more times than not. Thank you for the chance to make my mark on something I have grown to love. I look forward to next year, and can’t wait to see what Katherine will do next year to make The Torch burn brighter.

    -Douglas H. Kurdziel

THE TORCH: NOW IN COLOR!


  • Thanks to our generous subscribers and donors, we reached our Fall fundraising goals! Our second issue this semester (on racks Wednesday, February 27) features a full color front and back pages and a redesigned masthead. Look for the Torch website to see a few design changes itself next month. Thanks again to our subscribers and donors for their fantastic support.

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