October 2007

Kristina Kelleher
Not that I support much government spending but I must point the hypocrisy of recent federal spending cuts. If we want to reduce the number of abortions performed each year, either because we care about the sanctity of life or because we realize it’s an inefficient form of birth control, shouldn’t we support providing access for low-income populations to birth control at reduced rates? The Deceit Reduction Act of 2005 eliminates the group discount policy that allows many universities and family planning centers like Planned Parenthood to purchase name-brand drugs for their campus pharmacies. I’m all for reducing the deceit, but with so many better options of wasteful spending to cut, is it a good call to choose something that might actually save fetuses’ lives?

Just to show how far out of the mainstream Brown is, at a time when mainstream America is struggling to accept gays and lesbians equally, Brown is pushing its population to accommodate transgender students. I mean, I am all for access to single-use bathrooms for those who feel uncomfortable in a multi-use facility but shouldn’t they have to ask for it—just like orthodox Jews have to ask for a non-electric key for the Sabbath? But back to my point about Brown being out of the even the crazy left stream, not even all the liberal democratic candidates for president are willing to accept that homosexuality isn’t a lifestyle choice. And Brown wants students to accept that people are just living out their biology even if the gender they are born with, the gender they appear, and the gender they “feel” are three different things.

Christina Cozzetto
So Ann Coulter’s gone and gotten herself in trouble again, saying the United States would be better if everyone were Christian and that Jews need to convert to be “perfected.” Clearly, her word choice was less than spectacular, but what exactly did she say that was so terrible? She wants everyone to convert to her own religion. Doesn’t every religious person in the world, whether Christian or Jewish or Muslim, want everyone to pick his or her own religion? Apparently believing in the superiority of your own religion over others is not allowed anymore.

Andrew Kurtzman
After half a year of effort by our good friends in the Brown College Democrats, it appears that The Brown Contemporary may finally see the light of day. We at the Spectator would like to think of the Contemporary as a sister publication, fighting the good fight and spreading the good word. And, in the spirit of sisterly affection, we hope that our friends will let us know when they find someone on this campus to whom the liberal word need be spread.

Sean Quigley
The website of Brown University (brown.edu) reports, “A special IRS ruling provides alumni, parents and friends with the chance to give directly to the endowment through a qualifying charitable remainder trust.” I sincerely hope that every alumnus or alumna of this University realizes that, in almost every way possible, the administrators of this University are enemies of decent society, and subsequently refuses to donate money so that they cannot fund the further degradation of that which this nation and her people hold most dear. Or, at the very least, I hope that some alumni would stage a quasi-coup similar to the one staged by conservative Dartmouth alumni. ¡Viva la revolución!”

Anish Mitra
The Nobel Prize Committee, in their latest escort to stretch the definition of “Peace” beyond all boundaries, awarded their once glorious Peace Prize to former Vice President Al Gore for his efforts to increase awareness of global warming. Final score: Yasser Arafat: 2; Al Gore: 1; Mahatma Gandhi: 0.

Pratik Chougule
For those who missed it, Richard Holbrook ’62 recently delivered a foreign policy address at Brown. Beyond the usual Bush-bashing, Holbrook proclaimed that “?ere is very little we can do unless we can mobilize other countries.” ?ere is very little the United States, the most dominant nation in world history, can do alone? Unfortunately Holbrook is not just another academic chump. If a certain Senator from New York is elected President, he could be your next Secretary of State.