Andrew M. Barnes

In case you missed it, here is my article from Tuesday’s University Times.  By the way, they changed my title.  I’m not against debate, I’m against the resolution…

Student believes transit debate is a waste of time
It’s mid-October, which means two things: First, Christmas music should be warming our radios with cheer anyday now and second, the transit tax vote is just a few short weeks away.

As much as I despise Christmas carols before Thanksgiving, the very thought of the current half-cent sales tax not being repealed in the upcoming election brings visions of billions of dollars of debt on the horizon.

Last week, our very own SGA passed a resolution to endorse keeping the current transit tax in place.  Whether that action is legal or not, it sure seems grossly unnecessary and a waste of time.

According to Justin Ritchie (SGA president), the SGA would pass any resolution if they felt it was in line with the student interest, including a mayoral race.  Which raises an interesting question.  Why hasn’t the SGA passed a resolution endorsing Pat McCrory for mayor?  He has been leading the fight for mass transit since the mid-90s.  Surely if he’s not in office, the advancement of future transit would falter to some degree.  I have my doubts that the SGA will stay consistent in its stance.

Passing a resolution before our on campus transit debate this Tuesday just seems odd.

In Ritchie’s online blog (10/15), he goes out of his way to rebuke a couple of local politicans as well as making an interesting statement, “Our elected officials don’t think that students can form their own opinions on local issues.”  But by passing this resolution in favor of the tax and encouraging us all to vote against repeal, the SGA is basically saying students can’t intellectually form their own opinions on the matter, we apparently need help in making our decisions on the issue.  Just a tad hypocritical.

Have I mentioned that this resolution was unnecessary and a waste of time?

When did our SGA become the authority in solving transit issues, especially one with billions of dollars at play?  That is a serious question.

Examine the campus closely; we have our own transit system (in collaboration with CATS) and no matter what anyone tries to tell you, it sucks horribly.  The goal of transit is to 1) improve the environment, 2) decrease congestion, and 3) spawn development.  For our campus, on ly the first two apply, but neither has happened.

Think of it this way, the shuttles are picking up students from all over campus who normally would’ve walked that previous route (they’ve done it for years, successfully).  We’re left with shuttles creating more congestion, more pollution, and less healthy students.  Let’s have these shuttles go to apartment complexes where students actually live.  The results would include fewer cars on campus, no need to build more parking decks, and and improved environment.  Where are the planet-saving earth club heroes when you need them?

Suggestion: let’s fix our own easily fixable system first, then maybe our opinions will matter, maybe then we will all have more credibility.

Have I mentioned that this resolution was unnecessary and a waste of time?

Glorious!

I’m sitting on the 2nd floor of Atkins Library and to my delight (and to thousands of others) it is raining.  This isn’t jus a sprinkle, this is a steady shower.  There aren’t going to be many times where I blog about it raining, but you really have to grasp the severity of the situation right now.  We are in an extremely severe drought, meaning we ain’t got much usable water left.  We could probably get through the winter with our current lake levels, but do we really want to walk that line?  I don’t.

I say let it rain, let it rain for the next week, it would be the best thing that could happen for this region.

Tonight is the night that some of us have been eagerly waiting for over the past few weeks.  Yes, for the first time at the Univ. of Charlotte, a debate over the transit tax will take place!  Although many decisions have been made based off rhetoric, tonight the power of facts will be seen.

Out student body president is one of those individuals who has based everything off of rhetoric and not facts.  For example, the passage of the resolution to support the vote against repeal campaign….before the debate.  Second, this morning he posted a video that pretty much sums of all the rhetoric tied together, Rhetoric Video-You’re Stupid If You Vote To Repeal. 

Haha, its just half a penny!  That raises almost $70 million a year, yea that’s nothing.  Oh, and did I forget to mention that the transit project is expected to cost (right now) almost $4 billion.  Where is the money going to come from again?  Remember, we don’t qualify for federal funding anymore and its doubtful we’ll get anymore state funding.  The original price tag was $1.3 billion…hmmm, what happened there?  Yea Justin, I’m just a stupid caveman who has lived in Charlotte my whole life.  I think have a little bit more invested in its future then you and your rhetoric.  I can’t believe I voted for him, twice!  What a dissapointment. 

Trains were the future…in the 1700s.

I’ll have more later, for now I’ve got to run.

Don’t forget tonight, 7pm, the Harris Alumni Center, Keith Larson vs. Jennifer Roberts…

I don’t think it would be a surprise to anyone if I said that I am a hardcore conservative.  Now before you start getting all pissy, allow me to explain myself and my beliefs.  First I believe everyone should have spelled out personal platform.  You probably already have one in your head whether you know or it not.  Here is mine…

• I believe in small government, that includes reducing the size of all government bodies while at the same time increasing the power of local governments in comparison to what powers they and the federal government currently have.  For the power to be with the people, the issue should be debated and decided closer to home.
• I believe in reducing taxes across the board.  If there is to be tax money going to social programs, none of it needs to be funneled in by the federal government.  The federal government should limit its spending to national security (including emergency response, military, FBI, CIA, etc.), operational costs, and national transportation issues (interstate highways, air travel, interstate rail).  I probably left one or two things off.
• States should handle the overall educational system (if a public one is to exist).  What good is it to rank all the states against each other on test scores, 1 state is always going to be last, regardless of how well the system performs.
• Issues such as capital punishment and abortion should be handled by the states.
• Providing health care is not the job of the government.  Non-profits, including churches, should be on the forefront of helping those in need domestically.  Trail lawyers need to be capped or regulated in their damage rewards in some way.
• Each state should determine ages for a person to be considered an adult in regards to voting, drinking, and smoking.
• Illegal drug enforcement should be limited to suppliers, including countries that provide them, not users who are addicted.
• Candidates should be allowed to raise as much money as possible for an election, McCain-Feingold is a joke and useless.
• Illegal immigration should be handled in terms of national security, not in terms of benefiting our economy.
• Freedom of religion is generally misunderstood.  Separation of church and state appears nowhere in the Constitution.  The government can be a Christian government, as long it doesn’t interfere with the rights of an individual to practice their own religion.  Being offended is not against the law, forcing someone to be a Christian is.
• I believe in keeping our current Electoral College, this keeps more power with the states.
• Gun Control: See 2nd Amendment.
• I believe each individual person should do their part when it comes to the environment, this means efficient recycling and creating sustainable energies.  That does not mean forcing citizens to trade in their cars or fining them for not recycling.  Oh and man made global warming isn’t happening.  If you’re reading this in 2007, you probably think I’m a moron, if you’re reading this in 2015 you are probably wondering why anyone would believe that we are causing climate change.

This is what makes me a conservative, for the most part.  I don’t bow at the feet of Ann Coulter, Bill O’Reilly, or Rush Limbaugh, but I do listen to what they say from time to time, just like I listen to Wolf Blitzer, Anderson Cooper, Brian Williams, and Chris Matthews.  There exist no person who is 100% right on every issue, thus intellectually I can’t agree with them completely, for that reason there is no one person I have complete faith in.

I got a phone call today, but not just any phone call.  Apparently word of mouth has spread over the true greatness I bring in regards to Charlotte 49ers’ school spirit.  I don’t want to sound like I’m bragging or anything, but I really doubt you received a call from the person who called me this afternoon.

Who is this person?  Wouldn’t you like to know.

Okay, I’ll tell you.  Leemire Goldwire (Guard for the Charlotte 49ers men’s basketball team)!  Yes, the one and only called me and boy was he excited about the upcoming basketball season.  Most of the conversation was him “encouraging me to be all in”, which I replied that I’ve ‘been in’ for a long time now.  Then out of nowhere he tells me that I (and I quote), “make it [Halton Arena] one of the best home courts in basketball.”  No way!  What an honor, I just couldn’t believe what I was hearing and I still can’t.

I tried to keep my emotions contained, but when at the very end he thanked me “…for making Halton Arena a great place to call home.” I lost it.  I was crying.  I had no idea he lived there, and he’s married so that makes it even more rewarding for me to hear.  It’s as if I’m apart of him and his wife’s family.  Maybye I’m putting words in his mouth, but that’s what it felt like he was saying.

It was an odd conversation though.  Everytime I tried to chime in, he just kept on going.  I think he just wanted to get everything out.  I know the feeling, sometimes you just got to get something off your chest.  Of course he did hang up sort of quickly.  Anyway, it was nice to hear from him again.  My hope is that each of you will one day earn the respect and admiration that Leemire has for me.  Remember, I said earned.  It starts by going and cheering at the basketball games.

One day you’ll know the feeling.

Update:
Since the original posting, Andrew has conceded that he may have been the only person to reveive a phone call from Leemire Goldwire.  The Goldwires have also filed for a restraining order.

I have been on the fence now on whether or not UNC Charlotte should change their name.  I see the pros and the cons of both perspectives.

I have come to realize though that you don’t need an official name change to something such as the ‘University of Charlotte’.  All we need is a press release.   All we need is for the University to address itself as something different.  All we need is to do exactly what the athletic department has already done.  Our athletic teams are not known as the ‘UNC Charlotte 49ers’, but simply as the ‘Charlotte 49ers’. 

I must tell you why I have come to this conclusion.  Originally, I was worried that changing our name could cause mass confusion, now I realize that mass confusion is already taking place.  On several occassions UNC Charlotte has been referred to as UNC, especially in the media.  Some students have even confessed that they applied for UNC Charlotte thinking that it was the Chapel Hill campus.  It may take several years for everyone to finally get that the Univ. of Charlotte is the same as the UNC Charlotte, but it will be well worth it.

Could you imagine what would happen if UNC Charlotte had a prominent speaker give a lecture on campus, and then articles were written around the world about what was said in his lecture?  Wouldn’t that be great, if UNC Charlotte’s name ended up in newspapers in places like Australia?  Unfortunately, this is not a hypothetical situation.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/environment/gore-gets-a-cold-shoulder/2007/10/13/1191696238792.html

It’s tough to read this article and not be disturbed that UNC Charlote is now just the University of North Carolina.  Chapel Hill is getting credit for something that it had nothing to do with.  I can guarantee you that this isn’t the first time this has happened.

We also wouldn’t be the first school to go by a nickname.  Virginia Tech isn’t really Virginia Tech, its Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.  Could you imagine watching basketball games this winter between…

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech ) VS. Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech)? 

Or how about

North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (North Carolina A&T) VS. California Polytechnic State University at San Louis Obispo (Cal Poly SLO)?

Did you know that there is a UNC-Pembroke?  You may have heard it referred to as simply ‘Pembroke’.  Appalachain State Univ. has been pushing (at least in their athletic department) to take the ‘State’ out of their name.

So what’s the problem with referring to UNC Charlotte as just Univ. of Charlotte?  Your diploma will still say University of North Carolina at Charlotte, we will still be a state school, and still receive state funding.

So let’s get this going.  Just start saying ‘Charlotte’ or ‘Univ. of Charlotte’…its that simple.