ONCLE // FLICKR

With an open seat on the high court, rumors are flying once again over what Obama is looking for in a nominee, particularly on the issue of choice: not the issue of abortion, but the issue of choice.

I say “issue of choice” because, in my opinion, Roe v. Wade represents much more than just abortion. It represents the right to have control over your own body, your “bodily integrity.” And, it seems, Obama agrees with me.

On April 21^st, the President made the following statement (emphasis added):

“You know, I am somebody who believes that women should have the ability to make often very difficult decisions about their own bodies and issues of reproduction. Obviously this has been a hugely contentious issue in our country for a very long time. I will say the same thing that every president has said since this issue came up, which is I don’t have litmus tests around any of these issues.”

“But I will say that I want somebody who is going to be interpreting our Constitution in a way that takes into account individual rights, and that includes women’s rights. And that’s going to be something that’s very important to me, because I think part of what our core constitutional values promote is the notion that individuals are protected in their privacy and their bodily integrity, and women are not exempt from that.”

To choose a nominee solely based on their opinion or view on abortion is, simply put, silly. Even if the new justice sits on the court for just one year, they would be appointed for the purpose of one vote, of the potential 75-100 votes cast in any given year on the Supreme Court. And as important as that one vote may be, it’s simply not worth it.

Rather than favoring a “pro-choice” nominee, Obama favors a nominee who views the constitution in a way that protects individual rights. To choose a nominee who views the constitution in a way that does not support individual rights has much broader implications than not having the right to reproductive choice.  I hate to use the term “slippery slope” but I think a pretty strong argument can be made is that if our next Supreme Court justice does not value individual rights, in the way Obama has explained above, the end to reproductive choice will be just one of many rights we may kiss goodbye.

Individual rights are about men and women having personal control over their lives, their health, their bodies and their future — and who doesn’t want that?

CHATHAM // GOOGLE IMAGES

The U.S. Navy has repealed one of its few remaining gender barriers as it has announced it will allow the first woman to serve on a submarine by 2012. (Yippee!) In the 16 years that women have been allowed to serve on Navy service ships, submarines have been kept off limits because of the long tours and lack of privacy on board, according to the Washington Post.

Rear Admiral Barry Bruner, who led the task force on lifting the ban and integrating women onto submarines, brushed aside concerns over sexual misconduct or unintended pregnancy, and the ability for women to “deal with” long tours and a lack of privacy, and said “We’re going to look back on this four or five years from now, shrug our shoulders and say, ‘What was everybody worrying about?’”

I agree, Rear Admiral Bruner, I agree.

It has been far too long that this ban, and similar bans, have existed within the military and I am glad to see they are slowly being dismantled piece by piece.

I hope that the Army follows suit by eventually lifting the ban on women taking on combat positions.  And of course, I will now take this opportunity to express my frustration with this ban…

I’m sick of the attitude in the military that your strength and intelligence and overall military capabilities are in some way related to your gender or sexuality. To imply that by being a woman, you are inherently unqualified to be a combat soldier is just as ridiculous as the implication that by being a man, you are automatically, in some capacity, qualified to be in a combat position.

Discrimination on the basis of gender and sexuality has long been unacceptable and illegal in the work place. I understand that the military is an exceptional community, but I don’t think that in regards to discrimination, the military should be granted an exception.

If you can pass the fitness tests, if you possess leadership skills, if you are healthy, if you are sane and if you are willing, you should be allowed in the military — any branch, any position that you may be qualified for — regardless of gender or sexuality (or age, or race, or education, etc.)

There are women in this country who absolutely can meet fitness standards to fight on the front lines. And there are absolutely women who would do it (has anyone seen G.I. Jane? So good). This is not to say that once the ban is lifted, all of our “mothers and daughters” that we’re so worried about will immediately enlist demanding to be put in the trenches, but it does mean that the women who have dedicated their lives to the military and to serve our country will be able to do so without limitation.

The Navy has realized that women (rule!) and, if given the opportunity, can prove to be just as qualified, just as willing and just as able to fight alongside the men.

Hopefully the integration of women onto submarines will help show this country and its military leaders that we (the U.S.) are ready for integration and that having a woman on a ship or in the trenches is not a big deal. And we can only hope that we will have the opportunity to prove the same for sexual minorities.

P.S.,

Air Force, you beat Army AND Navy. You go USAF, you go.

FLICKR

In preparation for finals, and knowing I have plenty of schoolwork to be completed, I stayed in this past Friday night, planning to make some serious headway on an economics paper.  A bag of kettle corn-flavored popcorn, two mugs of apple cider, one-third of the way further through Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, and Ice Worlds and Seasonal Forests episodes of Planet Earth all consumed, my eyelids were falling shut.

Saturday brings with it new promise, I suppose.  In the morning, I was talking to my housemate while walking down the treacherous flight of stairs to my basement abode.  My socked foot slipped off one of the metal treads, and I nearly went crashing down the whole flight.  Said housemate then told me the gory history of the house; how soon after it was built, the D.C. banker who lived there fell down those same stairs and suffered a massive stroke as a result.  He lived the next 20 years of his life mostly bedridden, paralyzed and nursed full-time by his wife, until his passing.

Yet another reason I have low rent.

KELSEY DICKEY // THE EAGLE

Each semester my friends and I have an end-of-the-term dinner right before finals to relax, debrief on the semester, plan for next semester and spend time with each other before we are forced to separate.

This semester we chose to end the term at Ben’s Chili Bowl, partially because we have never eaten in U Street, and partially because Obama recently took the French president and his wife there.

How can you resist eating at a place where Obama ate?  We couldn’t, so we met in my dorm room Friday at 7 p.m., walked to the metro (because the AU shuttle is known for its reliability and speed), transferred to the green and yellow line, walked ten minutes in the wrong direction and finally found Ben’s Chili Bowl.

It was not what I expected.  I’m not sure what I expected with prices so affordable and foods like half smokes, chili dogs and cheese fries, but it definitely was not a cramped storefront filled with smoke, cashiers dressed in traditional hot dog vendor outfits and music so loud you could hardly hear what you were ordering.  To be fair, the music was perky and fun; it made me want to shake my groove thing while I waited eagerly in line to place my order.

After ten minutes waiting to order the moment of truth came.  What would I order?  I had an aversion to pork, hated hamburgers and I won’t touch a veggie burger unless my dad makes it.  I did what any college student would do: I ordered cheese fries and a banana milk shake (that diet I blogged about earlier in the semester has been dead almost a month and I feel no remorse).  I was in heaven.

The milk shake was thick and creamy and satisfied my enormous sweet tooth.  The mammoth order of cheese fries filled an entire plate; I barely put a dent in it.  The topping was no ordinary cheese; it had a kick to it which made every bite of my greasy fries even more addicting than the last.

My meal cost about eight dollars and was worth every penny of it.  I woke up the next morning craving a Ben’s Chili Bowl milkshake.  My only regret is that U Street is too far away to make a daily milkshake run.

PHAULT // FLICKR

Recently, someone asked me why AU students should be interested in my blog. Business is a good topic, my friend said, but why should anyone outside the Kogod School of Business care? The answer, I tell them, is that business affects human interaction like few other factors in society do.

All business is connected.  We talk of the world’s environment as one system, where a coal plant in China harms the earth like a similar coal plant in Ohio would. Business has the same level of interconnectedness. Money travels like ocean currents, covering vast distances in short amounts of time. Governments can dam the flow of money like they can with water, but this merely slows down its flow; it does not stop it. Like water, its flow is either life sustaining or damaging. Too much at once, and we may become decadent or greedy. Too little, and we die.

Think of the world and its many time zones, and this flow becomes clear. When it’s midnight on Friday in Washington D.C., in Tokyo, a research team finished scarfing down lunch, and is working on its next videogame console. Across town, the Tokyo Stock Exchange shuffles money across Asia, determining the value of firms like Toyota and Sony.

In Shanghai, dockhands are loading a freighter bound for America, paid for by an import-export bank in San Francisco. The cargo of mini refrigerators will be sold across the U.S., and maybe even go into your dorm room. When you buy the fridge, they will be sleeping in Shanghai, and they will load another freighter to the U.S. when they wake up.

Money flows constantly. Leonard Read’s essay “I, Pencil,” shows the flow of money through the production process, as told by the humble pencil. A pencil requires many parts, including wood, graphite, varnish and a factory to assemble the parts. Each layer of production works together only because money flows through them. The flow of money is not something many contemplate, yet involves a fascinating story at each end. Those are the stories I wish to tell. No matter how disparate they seem, they ultimately affect every one of us.

MARTIN PETTITT // FLICKR

Remember when the Exxon-Valdez ran into a rock in Alaska, and oil spilled everywhere? So does the green energy industry. Since the disaster almost 21 years ago, Americans are more conscious about the fuel they use. In light of Earth Day, I want to give you a brief introduction to the latest trend in the energy industry, one of green energy.

To date, humans harness energy by burning something, be it wood, dung, coal or fissile material. Coal, oil and natural gas are called fossil fuels because they each come from ancient life forms.

Hydrocarbons are actually the most efficient fuel to date. Consider the case of England, once covered by mammoth forests. The constant demand for firewood levelled most of the forests by 1600, while producing similar environmental effects. Coal, while even dirtier to burn, had far more energy density than wood did and was easier to ship. Oil was even more energy dense and incredibly easy to transport.

Today, we are at the same position as 17th century Britain. We have not depleted our resources yet, but we see the end in sight. Not to mention they are still pollutants.

Enter the green energy industry. The industry as a whole started in the 1970s, but never gained real momentum until the 2000s. Today, wind energy is taking off, with Europe expecting 40,000 megawatts of energy by 2020, enough to power 25 million homes.

Is this commitment enough? Furthermore, can green energy survive without government subsidies? That’s a question I will explore in the coming weeks.

POPARTDKS // FLICKR

I love Madonna.

I love Glee.

And I am OBSESSED with the fact that on Tuesday night these two powerful forces combined.

But even more exciting is that this episode didn’t just focus on the music of Madonna, but the message of Madonna. Be empowered. Be your own person. Don’t settle. It’s a message that is long overdue for some of the Glee clubbers.

With three characters (Rachel, Finn, and Emma) stressing over “losing the big V,” Madonna’s “Like a Virgin” played out during a dream sequence of all three having sex, and then us, ultimately, finding out that Rachel and Emma never went through with it. And you know what? Good for them! You could tell that both women were having some serious internal struggles over whether or not it was the right time, or the right person, to ‘do it’ and to make the decision not to have sex exemplified one of Madonna’s biggest messages: be empowered!

It’s empowering to take control of your own body, whether that means having sex or saying no. Rachel and Emma both respected themselves when they made the decision to continue waiting until they were ready. I am all for being sexually empowered, but being sexual isn’t the only way to be empowered (obviously), and I think Glee did a great job of showing that. Similarly, kudos to Glee for not politicizing the issue of virginity and sex; it was presented exactly the way it should be: as a personal decision that everyone makes for themselves.

I’m also glad to see that the fellas (minus Puck, surprise!) really took on the challenge of changing the way they treated the ladies, making sure there was always a level of respect for not just their talent, but for each individual as a person. I absolutely think the girls should be taking a page out of this book, but getting the guys to step up is a start.

This episode also made me fall in love, even more, with some of its characters.

Here’s why I love….

Tina: “my growing feminism will cut you!” hilarious. Didn’t send the most PC message about feminists, but I still loved it. You go, girl.

Schue: “You took ownership of your body when you said you didn’t wanna sleep with me” Couldn’t be more right, Mr. Schue

Emma: “Look at their role models — you’ve got Britney Spears and her shaved head, Lindsay Lohan looks like something out of Lord of the Rings, Ann Coulter…” So funny, so right. Not only are these the women that young girls are looking up to (scary) but they’re also the women that many young boys are looking at. [[If these women aren’t demanding respect, why should we? If  people aren’t giving these women respect, why should we? ]]

Madonna is sexy. She’s empowered. She’s her own person. She does her own thing. She’s self-made. She demands respect. She’s a role model.

You go, girl. You go, Glee.

MIKE LICHT, NOTIONSCAPITAL.COM // FLICKR

Did financial institutions play naughty before the financial crisis in the fall of 2008? According to top federal regulators, investment bank Goldman Sachs did. Last week, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a civil suit against the bank, alleging fraud against its clients. In the months leading up to the financial crisis, Goldman Sachs sold its clients a complex financial instrument that ultimately lost money. The SEC suit alleges that Goldman Sachs knew that the instrument would lose money but sold it anyways for short-term profit. Proving that Goldman Sachs had intent to defraud customers is extraordinarily difficult.

What’s most interesting here are the political implications of this suit. As we speak, Congress is hotly debating a bill to reform the entire financial sector. The package, as mentioned in an earlier post, will cover regulation in every area of finance, from mortgages to student loans to derivatives. Several in Congress are blocking its passage because it may hurt business too much. Supporters of the bill, such as Senate sponsor Chris Dodd (D-CT), claim firms like Goldlman Sachs hurt “main street” business with their excesses.

Enter the recent suit. On Tuesday, Rep. Darell Issa (R-CA) sent a letter to the SEC asking for further documentation surrounding the suit. Issa questions the timing of the suit, believing the suit may help legislation move through Congress. The SEC is an independent agency, meaning that it does not report to the Obama Administration. Nevertheless, SEC Chairman Mary Shapiro is a devout Obama ally.

With this in mind, I want to ask you your thoughts on the debacle. Suppose, for a moment, that the SEC did not file the suit, and did not allege fraud. Did Goldman Sachs act irresponsibly, or did they just act as any other profit-seeking business would?

BEKETCHAI // FLICKR

Are you planning on visiting friends in Northern Europe? Maybe you will study abroad over the summer, strolling in Paris or smoking cannabis in Amsterdam’s famous coffeehouses. Well, as we all know, we can forget travel to Europe for the time being. Thanks to a volcano in Iceland, a giant ash cloud has frozen air traffic on much of the continent. In fact, the air freeze may even last a few weeks.

Despite its tiny size, Iceland has created some big problems for Europe. During the financial crisis of 2008, Iceland’s banking system collapsed, taking several accounts in Europe with it.

Neither event was Iceland’s fault, and if there are any Icelanders reading this, I do apologize. But Iceland has caused problems for the rest of Europe. The Washington Post even reports that the cloud may hurt trade, and thus hinder Europe’s sluggish recovery.

Here’s a rundown of the industries to be affected:

Airliners Airlines cnnot fly in European airspace, and are losing over $200 million a day. In fact, several European airlines have asked the European Union to compensate the industry for its losses

Shipping Most of the trade to and from Europe takes the form of bulky industrial goods, often shipped by sea. Air cargo has shut down completely, though, given that no planes can fly.

Perishable Foods This hurts developing nations more than anyone, especially because  so many supplies move through air. In Kenya, for instance, more tan 5,000 workers in the vegetable and flower industry were told not to work on Sunday.