Rick Santorum Blames Gay Marriage, Abortion, And Pornography Ideals On College Indoctrination

      In a shocking statement on January 15, Rick Santorum declared that he believed the nation’s colleges were responsible for a “sea of antagonism towards Christianity” and “indoctrinating” more liberal ideas such as the legality of gay marriage, abortion, and pornography.  Santorum, a former republican United States Senator from Pennsylvania and presidential candidate, stated that gay marriage, abortion and pornography are “symptoms to the fundamental issue that we've gotten away from the truth and the 'Truth-Giver.'”  He said that these symptoms derived from the culture presented by Hollywood and the schools in the United States, especially colleges.
            Despite receiving an undergraduate degree from Pennsylvania State University, an M. B. A. from the University of Pittsburgh, and a J. D. from the Dickinson School of Law, Santorum downplayed the importance of receiving a college education. Last February he said, "President Obama once said he wants everybody in America to go to college. What a snob!"  Santorum described President Obama’s goal for all of the United States to attend college as an attempt to push the liberal agenda saying, "There are good, decent men and women who go out and work hard every day and put their skills to the test that aren't taught by some liberal college professor trying to indoctrinate him. I understand why he wants you to go to college. He wants to remake you in his image."
            In my opinion, for a person in power such as Mr. Santorum to so irrationally push people against education is utterly despicable.  As a 2008 study shows, college students are no more likely to accept liberal ideas than any member of their age group that does not attend college.  Based on the blatant hypocrisy shown by Mr. Santorum’s three college degrees,  I believe that the motives of his statements and ideals should be called into question.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/18/rick-santorum-blames-gay-marriage-abortion-porn-college-indoctrination_n_2501970.html

            Lance Armstrong was considered one of the greatest cyclists of all time.  With an unprecedented 7 Tour de France wins, he was the most famous cyclist of our era with an amazing story of success when the odds were against him.  He had overcome testicular cancer and became a symbol of hope for many cancer patients.  Throughout his career, there was another story forming, however.

 Despite consistently denying doping allegations, many critics remained skeptical.  These allegations were never conclusive, until earlier this week.  On a shocking interview with Oprah Winfrey, Lance Armstrong admitted to using multiple illicit performance enhancing substances.  Armstrong stated that his “cocktail of choice” was EPO, blood transfusions, and testosterone.  Armstrong thought that he could at least justify the testosterone considering he had a testicle removed and figured he must have some sort of deficiency.

Although he put all of the blame on himself, he believed that he needed to dope in order to win.   He went on to say that in his opinion, he felt it was impossible for a person to accumulate 7 tour de France victories without doping. 

There are extreme overreactions to this scandal.  In the interview, Lance Armstrong says, “I didn’t invent the culture, but I didn’t do anything to stop it either,” which is a very good point.  Almost every major competitor in cycling dopes and he does not deserve the insane amount of bad press that he gets. 

My parents are both from small towns.  My mom grew up in Atkinson, Nebraska, and my dad lived in Savannah, Missouri.  A year before I was born, my parents moved to Raleigh, North Carolina, where I was born and spent my early childhood.  I moved to Omaha when I was one year old and have lived here since. I play lacrosse and run cross country.  My favorite sports teams are Nebraska football, Creighton basketball, Duke basketball, and Kansas City Chiefs football (sadly).   My grandparents have a cabin at Lake of the Ozarks that I go to each year to wakeboard, tube, ski, and fish.  I would say that this is my favorite place to be.