Opinion

The Importance of Environmental Policy

There is an overwhelming amount of news coverage related to the state of the economy, international politics, and various domestic programs. The environment and environmental policy on the other hand, are being ignored. When environmental policy is discussed many citizens and representatives champion the need for substantial policy reform. However, when actual policies are introduced, […]

Global Awareness: The Only Way Around Political Labels

“Political labels hinder our ability to fix society’s problems. We should spread ideas that benefit the human condition as a whole.” As the world has developed from a relatively isolated system, towards one that is more interconnected and globalized, the role of its inhabitants has changed as well. This is the product of the exchange […]

What Super Tuesday Means to the GOP

On Tuesday, Republican voters from 10 states will take to the polling booths. They will decide whether to establish Mitt Romney as the nominee or drag out the nomination process for several more months. This comes at a time when President Obama has benefited from the bickering between Romney and Rick Santorum and has seen […]

Romney Still GOP Frontrunner

If his victory in Arizona and Michigan this past week is any indication, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney is poised to win the 2012 Republican Presidential Nomination and face President Obama in the general election. This certainty stems in part from the relatively weak pool of GOP candidates. Each has overtaken or gained momentum on […]

The Last Mountain: Understanding the Toxic Side of Coal

At last year’s Sundance Film Festival, a movie premiered entitled The Last Mountain. At the time of writing The Last Mountain is available for streaming via Netflix – and it is a must watch for all of us. The film’s director, Bill Haney, previously directed and produced the documentary A Life Among Whales, which takes […]

One Against All: Media Culture and Public Perception

“[Qaddafi’s death] confirms Obama’s moves regarding foreign policy; he may have a tough time with domestic, but most of his decisions internationally have been spot on—from killing Bin Laden to now the complete fall of Libya without [America] getting entangled.”[i] Media culture within the United States has become emboldened with the support of viewers and […]

Incident Blown Out of Proportion: A Deeper Look into U.S. Policy Abroad

As video recently surfaced showing four U.S. Marines urinating over the bodies of three deceased Taliban fighters, U.S. government officials became concerned that this could incite anti-American sentiment around the world.  This public outcry made me realize just how flawed some American’s outlook on the world really is.  This fear is especially focused on Afghanistan […]

The Iron Lady: Lloyd’s Thatcher Shows the Strength Necessary to Lead

The Iron Lady is a film that has been engineered to win Academy awards, but behind the artsy appeal, the glitz and the glamour lies a solid critique on the modus operandi of western political systems, wherein the events of Margaret Thatcher’s life echo our current political situation. Phyllida Lloyd’s film portrays Margaret Thatcher through […]

Freedom of Speech and its Limitations: How one Soldier’s Civil Right is not his Military Right

The drama of the Iowa Caucus kept me up until two a.m. I watched as the narrow race between Romney and Santorum was ultimately decided by only eight votes (every vote really does count!).  The other big winner of the evening, besides the incredible surge for Rick Santorum, was that of Ron Paul.  Even though […]

Seeing Past the Blinders

Over the past week, two student groups and one individual brought the stark divisions of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict home to root at Northeastern University. On December 1st, Northeastern University Students for Justice in Palestine (NU-SJP) invited Norman Finklestein, a prolific and highly controversial scholar on Levantine politics to deliver a lecture at the university entitled […]