First Place
Nick Fox, Photo Page: Plaza Art Fair

Second Place
Rachel Cantrell, Feature Photography: Rumors
Mike Blake, Story Illustration: Geese attack Longview
The Current, Overall

Third Place
Rick Wirt, Feature Writing: Phi Theta Kappa officer named Soldier of the Year
Jordan Lee, Sports Writing: Lakers train for another banner year
Michael Bartlett, Regular Column: American potheads are responsible
Mike Blake, Political/Editorial Cartoon: Me? Get swine flu?
Mike Blake, Non-Political/Entertainment Cartoon: Park at the Rec Center

Honorable Mention
Bryan Gentry & Michael Bartlett: Ban Johnson proposal shouldn’t be approved
Sean Graham, Sports Writing: Sports Lodge lends excitement to Lee’s Summit
The Current, Feature Page: Rumors

Our livelihood, liberty, and national identity may be in jeopardy if we don’t act soon. This is the warning of two-time presidential candidate U.S. Rep. Ron Paul (TX-14) in his latest book, “End the Fed.” Paul cites the inflationary actions of the Federal Reserve Bank as the source for our present economic recession and predicts things are going to get much worse.

The Federal Reserve, Paul says, has led an ignorant Congress to “behave like college students on spring break who are using their parents’ credit cards with no limit.” This seemingly unlimited line of credit augments government by allowing Congress to engage in costly wars, produce expensive government programs, and bail out their friends on Wall Street.

The Fed, as it is known in business circles, drastically inflates the money supply through the vehicle of fractional reserve banking, which requires banks to hold only a small percentage of their customer’s  deposits as they loan out the remainder. It may also alter the money supply through its open market operations, buying and selling treasury securities, and with the discount rate it charges banks for borrowing money from it.

Since the Fed was created in 1913, the purchasing power of the dollar has dropped by 95 percent. “When the Fed lowers interest rates below their natural level on a market, it has the effect of expanding investment beyond a sustainable level,” Paul wrote. “The lower interest rates are creating no new capital; they are merely distorting the signals borrowers use to assess risk,” he said. Through these actions, Paul argues, the Fed enhances the business cycle, producing and prolonging recessions in the economy.

As the Fed creates new money out of thin air, the value of the dollar depreciates, which is essentially a tax favoring the elite at the expense of average citizens because the money they hold loses some of its purchasing power. Paul said, “The early users of the money are the beneficiaries; the government, the banks, and the large corporations.”

Paul argues that the only way for a society to be free is for it to have money of intrinsic value. This is impossible with an economy based on central banking. Central banking and the control of money that it lends to government are absolutely necessary for an authoritarian government to operate, and are absolutely unnecessary for a free democratic society. The fifth plank of the Communist manifesto articulates the economic system of the United States very well: “Centralization of credit in the banks of the state, by means of a national bank with state capital and an exclusive monopoly.” Freedom and central banking are incompatible.

Our own Thomas Jefferson actively opposed central banking in the United States, he wrote, “The Central Bank is an institution of the most deadly hostility existing against the principles and form of our Constitution… if the American people allow private banks to control the issuance of their currency, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of all their property until their children will wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered.”

The Federal Reserve Bank is a semi-independent agency that is, in fact, owned and partially operated by private national banks. One major issue that Paul cites in the management of The Fed’s enormous power is that its most important actions are secretive and are unknown even to the members of Congress who are supposed to keep it in check. Currently, Paul is trying to pass a bill in the House of Representatives called The Federal Reserve Transparency Act, which would allow Congress to audit the Fed. The bill has 307 co-sponsors, including Emanuel Cleaver (MO-5).

Paul calls for massive reform to our economic system. He wants to eliminate the Fed from the picture and replace our fiat dollar (paper money) with a commodity currency that is backed by gold. Paul sees his ambition to be a conservative one, as the constitution specifically outlines gold and silver to be the only legal tender and is silent on central banking. Although, some may reasonably dispute this interpretation of the Constitution. In his book he references Article 4 section 10 to support his supposition that only gold and silver can be used as legal tender, but this section of the constitution addresses limitations of the power of states, not the federal government.

With a commodity currency,like gold, inflation would be severely limited, since gold cannot be printed as paper can. Therefore, our federal government would also be limited in the money it can spend on useless wars and government programs. Consumers may see the benefits of a healthy economy without the looming threat of an economic meltdown caused by fictitious investment and the resulting bubbles in the market. Banks would be limited in their lending practices because they could not use customer deposits to loan money. Large corporations would be responsible for their mistakes, without the possibility of government bailout through central banking powers.

It is evident that both the citizens and government officials of the U.S. are addicted to credit as the national debt climbs past a record high $12 trillion. If Paul’s plan for gold backed currency is to become a reality, the U.S. will have to go cold turkey on credit because banks would no longer be able to create money to lend through the fractional reserve system. Ending fractional reserve banking would turn our economic system upside down and the initial results would likely be devastating to business in America, but if Paul is right, the alternative of making no changes would be far more destructive.

MCT Campus

by Rick Wirt

The film Paranormal Activity plunges its viewers into a plethora of emotional activity. The audience will be filled with hostility, disappointment, regret, illness and fatigue.

Paranormal Activity was written and directed by Oren Peli, first time director with a production budget of only $15,000. The acting is noticeably bad, even for a horror flick. Needless to say, no self-respecting actor would appear in a Hollywood movie for less than $15,000. The movie was filmed in 2006 over a one week period and first released in 2007 at the Screamdance Film Festival.

The film has been compared relentlessly with The Blair Witch Project by reviewers and critics for its documentary style. One clear similarity between the two is the constant, vomit-inducing camera shaking. Even the most durable stomachs will be overturned. The threat of being puked upon by a stranger dashing down the aisle is much more frightening than the movie itself.

Novice acting and agonizing camerawork matched with a predictable plot and tiresome attempts at spooking the audience make this movie difficult to endure. Adrenaline reserves will not be tapped into, supposing that the viewers of this film aren’t frightened by thunderstorms.

Stay home, save time, save money.

Photo courtesy of Chris Vedder

Life for military parents in Missouri just got easier, thanks in part to the efforts of Longview student Chris Vedder. 

National Guard Spc. Chris Vedder received a special honor for helping Missouri legislators protect the parental rights of soldiers. Vedder recieved the junior enlisted award for “Soldier of the Year” at the National Guard’s 35^th infantry division annual reunion in Topeka, Kansas. In October, he was also a finalist for “Soldier of the Year” in the 2009 Army Times Publishing Company, one of the militaries largest publications.

“I’m proud of the award personally, but this was a great way to help out military families and let people know of the issues going on with the military,” Vedder said.

Vedder helped advocate the signing of two bills in 2008 and 2009. The initial bill, which passed in 2008, established that child custody could not be modified due to failure of a parent to comply with court custody orders if the reason for this delinquency was the parent’s involvement in active duty with the armed forces. The following bill in 2009 extended further rights to parent soldiers, guaranteeing permanent court orders not be modified until after the soldier returns home from active duty and receives a court hearing.

 “Soldiers fighting for our country would find themselves in another battle, one for custody of their children,” Vedder said. 

California was the first state to create laws concerning soldier/parent rights and Vedder said he became aware of it when Kansas also began making the changes. In 2008 Vedder contacted Jason Holsman, representative of the 45^th district of Kansas City, and told him the stories of military parents losing custody of their children to their ex-spouse.  Jason Kander, 44^th District Representative and a former captain in the Missouri National Guard, was aware of the problem too, and joined the effort to help pass these bills. Kander called Vedder to testify in front of the Missouri Veterans Committee. As a single parent himself, Vedder had firsthand experience with the problem and said he wanted to make things easier for other soldiers facing custody challenges.

 “This is a matter of mission safety too, because these men and women have their mind on problems at home and can’t always remain focused,”Vedder said. “Resolving this issue eases the burdens of the military, which has already been burdened so much for the past eight years.”

Vedder is a non-traditional student, being that he is a soldier in the National Guard, but he is also the Vice President of Public Relations for Longview’s Phi Theta Kappa honor society chapter.

 “He has begun and will continue to maintain campus and community relations for our organization,” said Kappa Tau President, Nicole Maxwell. “He is working on our quarterly newsletter and press releases to the media as well. He is a very busy man: father, serviceman, student, and VP,” she said.

“Chris’ job as VP of Public Relations is to basically make sure as many people know about the stuff we’re doing as possible. This may include making flyers, updating our Facebook page, or other means of getting people’s attention,” said Isaac Neal, Kappa Tau VP of Service. “I like Chris a lot. He comes whenever he can to the events we have, and always has ideas for something else we can be doing,” he said.

Vedder joined the 35^th infantry division of the National Guard after being transferred from the Navy Reserves. The 35^th infantry division is a historic division that was engaged in both World Wars and was idolized in the Clint Eastwood movie: Kelly’s Heroes. It consists of soldiers from Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, and Illinois. The 35^th infantry division is also notable for having deployed President Harry S. Truman as a battery commander in World War 1.

Nietzsche said, God is dead and we have killed him. We haven’t gone quite so far in our sadism as to kill the economy as well, but it appears to be losing a lot of blood, nonetheless.

Amidst the turmoil and frustration that follows the waning of a massive economy, one may look for outlets to direct that anger. We’ve heard for years that the social security program is broken, and under the Bush administration effort was made to privatize the system. It would be easy to criticize the complacency and failure of our parent generations to protect Social Security, but it turns out that the rumors carry no water at all.

The Baby Boomers did not produce enough offspring to keep up with market demand and now we are too few to feed the Social Security machine. Under the current system, it is predicted that in less than half a century, the Social Security Trust Fund will be depleted. But does that really mean the system is broken? After all, the SS Trust Fund still has a surplus of nearly $3 trillion according to the 2008 Annual Report.

“I find it ironic that we think of things that have surplus as being broken, and other programs that have no money or have to borrow money we do not call broken,” said Longview economics professor Hossein Bahmaie. “It is more than funny. It is sinister,” he said.

To prevent Social Security reserves from being exhausted, we have several options. The most obvious and least appealing way is to raise the SS rate to make up for the deficit. A much more attractive idea is to raise or eliminate the cap on income that has SS deductions. Under the current system, anything earned over $106,800 is not subject to SS deductions.

The worst thing that we can do is to privatize the Social Security system. Privatizing the system would mean giving all or part of the trust fund to private firms to invest. The problem with this method is that the private firms would not perform this service for free and obviously the profits are not guaranteed to be enough to cover the needs of retirees.

“They [firms] see the $3 trillion and they salivate like dogs,” said Bahmaie. “They wouldn’t be taking any risk. It’s free money,” he said.

Even if we fail to prevent reserves from being depleted the SS program can still support 70 percent of its benefits after the trust fund is depleted with the pay-as-you-go method, in which funds are made available to retirees as they are being paid by workers.

We can safely dismiss the apocalyptic visions of elderly homeless massing beneath bridges and meandering throughout the suburbs. The elderly can now re-devote their attention to their lifelong battle against communism and develop speeches for their death panel hearings.

Following the Attacks of 9/11, former President Bush promised to hunt down and punish those responsible. Ever since, America has been immersed in horrific war. We removed a violent dictator and purged the land of terrorists, but the wars not over and the military is swelling. Education incentives offered by all branches of the armed forces mean more soldiers in the classroom, soldiers who are either preparing for, or returning from active duty. This unpredictable and stressful lifestyle creates obstacles for soldiers trying to succeed in school. For this reason, MCC-Longview and other campuses across the country have established the Student Veterans of America, a student run organization designed to help active soldiers and veterans manage their hectic lifestyles.

You never know what experiences the person sitting next to you in class has had. If they’re a veteran, or have spent any time in the war torn Middle East, it can be especially startling.

“For me it was my last trip that was the most dangerous. We didn’t even hear the explosion [when hitting an IED]. The explosion lifted the truck 25 feet in the air and pushed it 60 feet forward,” said Longview student Don Breese, a former contractor for KBR incorporated in Iraq, who has had an honorary involvement with SVA.

“I can’t do the things I used to do, I have a metal plate in my back, I can’t lift more than 20 pounds, and I can’t bend over or climb without hurting myself.”

Breese was forced to return home after sustaining the injury, but it wasn’t the first dangerous incident he had been exposed to.

“Somebody threw a cinderblock at my vehicle once while I was driving 50 miles per hour,” Breese said. “The impact broke the passenger window and caused it to fall on the steering wheel. My arm was pinned between the wheel and the broken window, but it was too dangerous for our convoy to stop. This was the stuff that you lived with. If you couldn’t handle it you went home, and there’s no shame in that.”

Breese was In Iraq from June 2004 to August 2007. In that time he traveled the width and breadth of the country delivering fuel to all branches of the military, primarily the marines.

“I was only responsible for getting the product and my team to and from the location. The army would escort us and keep us safe along the way,” Breese said.

Breese said that in the beginning he and his team didn’t have any trouble, but when the IED’s started showing up they had to take control of the roads. “We called the enemy dumb, but never stupid. They came up with some nice little toys,” he said.

Although support for US troops has always remained strong, many question the value of the war’s objectives. Chardanee Harvey is one Longview alumni who decided to join the service despite her dislike of the conditions of the present war. She joined the Army Reserves in June of 2007 and has served in Italy, maintaining an American base there.

“I’m really not sure why we’re still in the war,” Harvey said. “I feel like at this point we are wasting time, money, and lives. They keep saying were going to bring people home, yet they’re shipping more people out.”

Breese said that our confrontation with Saddam was inevitable, and points out that Iraq needs a new infrastructure, but is a relatively secular country with a lot of potential.

“We have done a lot of good for them, building schools, hospitals, and restoring electrical power throughout the country. If we up and abandon them they’re going to end up in civil war,” he said.
Counselor Jim McGraw is the faculty advisor for SVA at Longview. He provides administrative support and helps student leaders of the organization find the resources necessary for its success. Noting that he has not served in the military himself, McGraw said, “To let down your guard and relax, I think that takes a period of time. The incredible stress soldiers have been exposed to can pose some challenges.”

In addition to providing support for student veterans, SVA conducts service projects, such as collecting care packages for active duty soldiers in the Middle East. Members can look forward to hearing from guest speakers and attending benefits seminars, as well as meeting others with similar experiences.

Those interested in joining SVA should contact McGraw, whose office is in the Business building, room 201R, phone number is (816)-672-2313.

Ladd Smith played Lakeside Cafe Sept. 10 (Rick Wirt/The Current).

by Rick Wirt

Rising musician Ladd Smith delighted Longview Students with a spirit-trembling performance at Lakeside Cafe on Sept. 10.

High-grade musicians seldom entertain students at a cafeteria. Delightful though this may be for the listener, it is awkward for the performer, playing to a semi-attentive audience. Smith managed to overcome this discouraging energy through comedic dialogue and beautiful, pulsating rifts.

Claps scattered through the unenthusiastic audience were drowned out by the far more prevalent side conversations at the conclusion of each song. The scene would have been depressing if Ladd’s playing were not so impressive. Imagine Eric Clapton being ignored by an audience of 10 in a coffee shop. The impression was the same.

Nevertheless, Smith remained in good humor. “This is great lunch eating music. It sounds like celery and peanut butter, it does,” he joked.

Despite its shortcomings, Smith was pleased with the performance, as were many students.

“I like it. It’s different,” said Timothy Hubes, a third-semester student.

Lisa Christenson shared the sentiment. “I love country and this sounds similar. I think he has a lot of potential.”

Smith is 28 and has been performing all his life. His publicist describes him as “the John Mayer of the heartland.” He said he’s been inspired by all musicians, past and present.

“Anybody that was a real artist has inspired me,” Smith said.

Following his Longview performance, Smith played at Arrowhead Pavilion on September 12 during the Chiefs pre-game show. His tour dates and locations can be found at Laddsmith.com and his music can be sampled on his MySpace at Myspace.com/Laddsmith.

Charles Ward and Loren Collins get 'em while they're hot (Rick Wirt/The Current).

Students Kallie Alexander and Cinthia Gonzalez of Campus Life and Leadership manned the swarmed pancake stand Aug. 25 as the mysterious Chris Cakes flipped pancakes over heads and onto plates with stunning accuracy.

“They’re pretty good, better than Denny’s,” Longview student Jonathan Smith said.

Campus Life and Leadership sponsored this semester’s Welcome Week, which included free pancakes and school supplies for radibly hungry students.  ~ Rick Wirt

View slideshow

1969 – a year transformed through rebellion and wars of ideology, an age immersed in the dawn of new technological achievements, heralded by the lunar landing and the invention of the microprocessor. Nineteen Sixty Nine hosted the end of the legacy of the world’s most popular band, The Beatles, signaled by their Rooftop Concert in London. In March, 250,000 people rallied at the foothills of the nation’s capital to protest the Vietnam War. Free love, hippies, drugs, violence, protests  - it was within this epoch of turbulence that Longview Community College was birthed.

Through September 26, 2009, MCC-Longview’s Cultural Arts Center hosts an interactive exhibit to bring viewers back to the year the college began. The exhibit is a celebration of 40 years of preparing students for future careers and education. A wealth of photos, news articles, vintage gadgets, and histories take visitors back to an era of vinyl records and groovy headbands. Themes represented in the display include war, politics, technology, pop culture, and Longview History.

“The Beatles song ‘Get Back’ came out in ‘69 and my hope was that people could ‘get back’ to the sixties,” said Terri Kelley, director of the exhibit. “Our hope was that people would sit down —not just walk around and leave, but to look at the Viewmaster and play the records and just get back.”

Kelley, along with co-organizer  Debbie Callahan , spent over three months collecting items for the show. “There was a lot of scanning and looking for the items over and over again until we hit the jackpot,” Kelley said. “We got the newspaper from the library archives. Debbie and I both would go to thrift stores looking for anything corresponding to 1969….It was fun, but we ended up being obsessed with [it]. We found the big faculty photo from the president’s office. Album covers, LIFE magazines, national newspapers, some of the images were loaned from other people who dug stuff out of their attic.”

Longview Community College actually predates Longview Lake, and many other changes have occurred throughout the years. Some things however have not changed, though. One of the largest photos in the exhibit is a faculty photo from the year Longview opened its doors. Two of the original professors pictured in that photo, John Kaczynski and Harold Baggerly, still actively teach at Longview. Kaczynski said he has taught just about every class the chemistry department offers. This is why he’s stayed put for so long.

“I like it. I’m comfortable. I was with the district since before Longview was created,” he said. “I suppose initially I thought I wanted to go on to other things, but pretty soon I realized I was happy with what I had. I had good students, and teachers like to teach.”

The first Longview students were tasked with conceiving a school mascot, and they chose the Slug.

“The name of the school paper was originally The Slug Line,” Kelley said. “The president and faculty hated that. It was a part of the rebellion at the time. Hatley, Longview’s first dean, felt that this would change as the two-year students graduated, and it did get to change, as he expected.”

The school cheer, “Stick it to ‘em, Stick it to ‘em, Stick it to ‘em Slugs!” could be heard from the sidelines of sports games, as Kaczynski recollected it. “Years later, Santa Cruz college was elected as having the best mascot —the Banana Slug. So I thought that it was shame that we had given that up, and I would tease people that we were the Lakers, but didn’t have a lake.”

The buildings that Longview consists of today are not the ones used 40 years ago. The original buildings were often likened to chicken roosts, but Kaczynski began teaching in the chapel down the road from the campus, due to his “chicken roost” being unfinished.

“It was a strange feeling, teaching chemistry behind a preacher’s pulpit. We had a strong make-do attitude – we’ve got to make do with what we’ve got,” Kaczynski said.

In the original buildings, “You could hear everybody’s lecture because the walls were particle board. You didn’t have a lot of privacy, but that wasn’t all bad,” Kaczynski said. “There was a closeness —if not just because the campus was so small. You were forced to intermingle and that was a good thing. It was kind of exciting. Here we are out in this famous horse ranch, putting up contemporary buildings for a college.”

Among other changes in the school, the original tuition price was only $9 per credit hour in 1969, significantly cheaper than today (about $20 dollars cheaper in today’s value).

Horse Management was a course offered by the Physical Education program, which had to be creative to account for the lack of a recreation center. Longview also, for a time, offered an extensive pilot’s training program.

“Some programs, they come and they go,” Kaczynski said. Beyond classes, Kaczynski pointed out that “there are more resources available to help students today and there are greater expectations on the educational system for their success.”

As the college was founded in the Vietnam era, peace movements sponsored by the youth were common and Longview students were no exception.

“The student government was very active in the early years,” Kaczynski said. “There was pressure by the student body to display the UN flag on campus. The pursuit of world peace was big. I had students coming back from four years in Vietnam. They were good students. They just wanted to get on with their lives.”

Callahan agreed. “The protests seem silly now, but they really overturned everything in how society works. Today’s students come in with the assumption that the administration cares. Today there is a lot more freedom and representation than in 1969.”

Updated 9/15/09