Gentlemen, have you ever asked a woman “what do you want to do tonight?” Like clockwork, the answer that always comes is, “I don’t know? You pick.” Frustrating, right? Unless you are a love guru, what to do on date night is a tough decision for any guy to make. Well, fear no more! The women of Mount Union are speaking out about their favorite places to go on date with their significant other.

First, let us answer the question of what makes a good date. According to Sarah Read, “great conversation and especially eye contact” are necessary. Adding to that, Shannon Kelly also said “if he keeps me laughing, then it’s a good date.” So now that you know what it takes to make a good date, the question is how do you apply it to the actual location of the date?

Now, we all know there is always what I call the “out route.” This basically speaks to two different types of dates. You can always go the dinner route, such as taking your date to Applebees, Texas Roadhouse or Jaliscos. But maybe you are not so hungry that night, so you turn to the more obvious choice: the movie date. Lets be real guys, aren’t we tired of watching movies where they sing and dance? Lets stand against the norm and get more creative!

The dates that women find most valuable are those that you take time to actually think about, instead of taking the “out route.”

“Making a home cooked meal together is one of my favorites” said Corrie Miller. “Honestly, if he is putting some effort into it, I will be happy no matter what.”

Guys, you already have some competition. Mount Union Student Joe Bowers is raising the bar, as he commented, “There’s nothing like laying out a blanket in the quad and just star gazing with my baby.”

The nature center is also a good spot for a date, going for a walk with the fall scenery. It is all about keeping the women on their toes and getting creative.

So there it is gentlemen, the secret behind the tough life of dating in Alliance. Whether you have cash or not, there is always a way to make her happy. So the next time you hear “I don’t know? You pick,” you will actually be able to answer with some confidence. Good luck and happy dating.

by Tyler Anderson

The mission to restore America begins with reducing the size of the federal government. President Obama has put our nation on an unsustainable course. Spending is out of control. Yearly deficits are massive. The national debt continues to grow.

Cutting spending has become more than just an economic issue; it’s a moral imperative. Every dollar of deficit spending must be borrowed, with the bill sent to our children to pay it back. As President, Mitt Romney will ask a simple question about every federal program: is it so important, so critical, that it is worth borrowing money from China to pay for it?

As President, Mitt Romney will cut federal spending. Mitt will work toward balancing the budget, reducing the size and reach of the federal government, and returning power to the states and the people.

Set Honest Goals: Cap Spending At 20 Percent Of GDP

·     Requires spending cuts of approximately $500 billion per year in 2016 assuming robust economic recovery with 4% annual growth, and reversal of irresponsible Obama-era defense cuts

Take Immediate Action: Return Non-Security Discretionary Spending To Below 2008 Levels

·     Send Congress a bill on Day One that cuts non-security discretionary spending by 5 percent across the board

Follow A Clear Road Map: Build A Simpler, Smaller, Smarter Government

1.     The Federal Government Should Stop Doing Things The American People Can’t Afford, For Instance:

o     Repeal Obamacare — Savings: $95 Billion. President Obama’s costly takeover of the health care system imposes an enormous and unaffordable obligation on the federal government while intervening in a matter that should be left to the states. Mitt will begin his efforts to repeal this legislation on Day One.

o     Reduce Foreign Aid — Savings: $100 Million. Stop borrowing money from countries that oppose America’s interests in order to give it back to them in the form of foreign aid.

2.     Empower States To Innovate — Savings: >$100 billion

o     Block grants have huge potential to generate both superior results and cost savings by establishing local control and promoting innovation in areas such as Medicaid and Worker Retraining. These funds should then be given to the states to spend on their own residents. States will be free from Washington micromanagement, allowing them to develop innovative approaches that improve quality and reduce cost.

3.     Improve Efficiency And Effectiveness. Where the federal government should act, it must do a better job. For instance:

o     Reduce Waste And Fraud — Savings: $60 Billion. The federal government made $125 billion in improper payments last year. Cutting that amount in half through stricter enforcement and harsher penalties yields returns many times over on the investment.

o     Reduce The Federal Workforce By 10 Percent Via Attrition — Savings: $4 Billion. Despite widespread layoffs in the private sector, President Obama has continued to grow the federal payrolls. The federal workforce can be reduced by 10 percent through a “1-for-2” system of attrition, thereby reducing the number of federal employees while allowing the introduction of new talent into the federal service.

o     Consolidate agencies and streamline processes to cut costs and improve results in everything from energy permitting to worker retraining to trade negotiation.

Let the new year begin! This year Student Senate is ready to hit the ground running.  Every group finally has a budget and it’s time to make 2012-2013 a year that no one will forget.  I know everyone is working hard on making their organization the best! That sure encourages Student Senate to do the same.  Student Senate bring you speakers this year, have student socials, and be visible around campus.  Student Senate wants you to know that if any organization needs support we are here to serve you.  If anyone has any ideas on how to improve our organization please contact me directly.  I am open to your thoughts and truly want to make Student Senate amazing this year.  Now is the time to go out and make the Mount Union Community stronger and cohesive.  I cannot wait to see what the year holds for our Mount Union Family.

Your Student Senate President,

Lillian Evans

Tyler Anderson

Overall, the Republican National Convention achieved its main goals. It presented a unified and energized Republican Party and it also laid out a clear vision for the future of the country. Governor Romney’s acceptance speech was the main event; however there were several other notable speakers. Senator Rob Portman and Governor John Kasich both gave excellent speeches and represented the state of Ohio well. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida gave a standout performance in his speech introducing Governor Romney and further solidified his standing as a rising star of the Republican Party. Ann Romney’s emotional and moving speech gave the American people a window into life in the Romney family and further defined Mitt Romney as a family man. It has been said that Ann Romney is her husband’s secret weapon, and her convention speech only reinforced that perception. Her prime-time address was clearly intended to appeal to women voters and cut into Barack Obama’s advantage with that critical voting bloc. Paul Ryan’s acceptance speech brought down the house and provided voters with a clear argument in favor of electing the Republican ticket. His fact-based indictment of the Obama presidency was tough and he delivered it in a way that did not turn off crucial independent voters.

Governor Romney’s speech accepting the Republican nomination for President was uplifting and moving. His speech was powerful and emotional, even causing him to choke up at several points. It was interesting that the camera zoomed in on several women in the audience who cried during part of the speech. If the goal was to help “humanize” the nominee, then the speech was a great success. The governor clearly made his case to the American people.

The 2012 Republican National Convention was different from past party conventions in that it presented not just a presidential ticket but a vision for the future of the country. Conventions are often heavily focused on the nominee. This convention was as much about policy as it was about personality. The convention was not just about one man; it was a statement by the Republican Party about the Republican Party. It was a departure from the past and a road map for the future. The message was very clear: this is not your father’s Republican Party. The party showcased its rising stars like Marco Rubio, John Kasich and Scott Walker. It embraced the bold reforms put in place by its governors, and promised to pursue a similar agenda on the national level.

There were some surprising aspects of the convention. Clint Eastwood’s rambling, bizarre performance was certainly unexpected. According to a new poll of Florida voters, the “Clint Eastwood strategy” appears to have paid off. Survey USA found that not only did Eastwood almost certainly boost viewership, but voters in the Sunshine State reacted positively toward his speech. While it was a risk to enlist the help of the famous actor, it appears that the Republicans gambled and won big as a result.

The Democrats will hear Republicans use a popular Eastwood phrase from now until the election, “Go ahead, make my day.”

Greg Djordjevic

The Democratic National Convention was a huge success. In my opinion it needed to do three things: explain how the President’s policies are working, energize the base, and finally remind Democrats and moderates alike why they voted for President Obama in 2008. The convention in Charlotte, North Carolina easily met all three of these goals. President Obama should get a pretty sizable bump in the polls following this convention that he will hopefully be able to ride into the debates.

The first goal was accomplished by President Bill Clinton’s speech on Wednesday night. Mr. Clinton is an incredible orator and has a way of simplifying even complex economic issues into easily understandable terms. I was in attendance for Mr. Clinton’s speech and the energy could be felt throughout the arena. Mr. Clinton, who created nearly 24 million jobs during his eight years in the White House, can be viewed as an authority on the economy.

Furthermore, his personality makes him appealing to almost anyone. Mr. Clinton explained health care reform in simple language. This was very important to do because there have been so many lies and falsehoods about health care reform. Moreover, Mr. Clinton was able to draw a parallel between Romney’s economic policies and the ones that Bush had put into place a little more than a decade ago. The most important thing Mr. Clinton did was comparing the start of the Obama presidency to now. Mr. Clinton made it easy to see that President Obama has turned the economy around. Even if it was not as fast as some critics claim it should be; we are still better off than we were four years ago.

The most impressive part of Mr. Clinton’s speech was the fact that almost a third of it was unscripted. From where I was sitting I could see the teleprompter and I could see Mr. Clinton. After the first paragraph the teleprompter stopped moving for about seven minutes. Mr. Clinton has the uncanny ability to seamlessly flow from impromptu speaking back into the scripted speech while maintaining a coherent narrative. It was one of the most impressive things I have ever seen.

The Democratic National Convention Committee did an amazing job when they selected the list and order of the speakers. Michelle Obama did an outstanding job the first night. Furthermore, Clinton on the second night built even more energy for hearing the President speak on the final night. Joe Biden also did an amazing job. This succession of speakers really allowed for maximum enthusiasm to build. As soon as President Obama took the stage I felt a rush of energy through the audience. Being a Democrat myself, I felt defeated after the 2010 Congressional elections. All this defeat was gone after President Obama walked onto the stage. President Obama’s speech was sensational, but his presence was more than enough to re-energize the base.

Finally, all three nights of speeches acted as a way of reminding people why they voted for President Obama. We see so many negative ads on television about the President that it is easy to forget what he has done. The three nights of speeches really highlighted his plethora of accomplishments. Furthermore, they clearly laid out the alternative to the President. The Democratic National Convention accomplished all three of its goals. When President Obama walked off stage I remember chanting, “four more years” with nearly 20 thousand Obama supporters. The Convention was a huge success.

Tyler Anderson:

On Thursday, June 28, 2012 the Supreme Court of the United States issued its long-awaited ruling on the constitutionality of the Obama health care overhaul. A bitterly divided court upheld the law as constitutional. In doing so, the court did not end the fight over “ObamaCare.” It simply teed up the ball for the American people and left the final decision to the voters. The court also provided a rallying cry for Mitt Romney and virtually guaranteed a united Republican Party. But we’ll get to that later. For now, the facts:  By a 5-4 vote, the court let stand most of the law’s provisions, including the law’s most controversial component, known as the “individual mandate,” which requires all Americans to purchase health insurance or pay a fine to the government. The court ruled that the mandate was not a “penalty,” as Democrats had claimed, but a tax. Oops.

On September 20, 2009, Barack Obama told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos in an interview that the mandate in his health care law was quote “absolutely not a tax.” During the 2008 campaign, Obama pledged that he would not raise taxes on anyone  making under $250,000. As it turns out, Obama was playing fast and loose with the facts. Starting in 2014, the amount owed to the IRS for failure to have health insurance will be $285 per family or 1% of income, whichever is greater. By 2016, it goes up to $2,085 per family or 2.5% of income. But the broken promises do not end there. Obama repeatedly said that under his plan, Americans could keep their health care plans if they liked them. He said his law would cut health care costs and would not add to our national debt. Those claims have also turned out to be false. But perhaps most disturbing is that under Obama’s health care law,  Americans may lose control over their health care decisions. The law creates IPAB, the Independent Payment Advisory Board, which consists of 15 unelected bureaucrats who are charged with making a wide range of health care decisions. The board was granted the authority to approve or deny treatments. In other words, Washington bureaucrats would be able to ration care by overruling treatment decisions made by doctors in consultation with their patients. While most of us agree that health care reform is needed, more government control is not the answer.

The American people do not like to be hoodwinked. In the days immediately following the Supreme Court ruling on ObamaCare, Mitt Romney’s campaign received over $10 million dollars in donations from across the country. Governor Romney can now count on a conservative base that is even more fired up than it was before the ruling and stands ready for battle in the fall. The healthcare law remains unpopular, and Romney has pledged to “repeal and replace” the law. The Supreme Court has spoken, however the jury is still out on the ultimate fate of ObamaCare. The voters will deliver their verdict this November.

Greg Djordjevic

The United States, sandwiched in between Costa Rica and Slovenia is ranked 37^th in the world when it comes to health care according to the World Health Organization. The United States ranks 24^th when it comes to life expectancy with an average life span of 70 years old. The United States ranks an abysmal 41^st when it comes to infant mortality. The United States dominates the list in one key area, per capita spending. The United States spend $7,500 per capita on health care. This figure rockets the United States to the top of the list. France, which ranks number one over all, according to the World Health Organization spends half of what we spend on health care; a measly $3,500 per capita.

In a 5-4 decision, the United States Supreme Court upheld the Affordable Care Act. The Affordable Care Act, once fully implemented, will have a positive impact on health care in the United States. There are a few critical provisions of the Act that must be highlighted in order to understand how the Act will make a difference.

The first and potentially the most important provision of the Affordable Care Act is the individual mandate, which requires all persons in the United States to either purchase health care or pay a fine. This provision was enacted as a result of skyrocketing costs of paying for the uninsured. In 2004, the cost of providing healthcare to the uninsured was nearly 125 billion dollars. Hospitals cannot simply absorb this cost; they must pass the cost on to the consumer, in the form of higher insurance premiums. The theory behind the individual mandate is that by requiring all persons in The United States to have insurance or pay a fine, free riders will be eradicated. The 125 billion dollar cost that was passed onto the insured in 2004 will be significantly reduced, thus reducing the cost of health insurance overall.

Moreover, the Affordable Care Act allows consumers to purchase healthcare policies across state lines. An alarmingly large number of states have a single insurance company that dominates the state’s market without any real competition. For example, in Alabama, one insurance company covers 83% of the state’s population. Since the demand of health insurance is inelastic, this insurance company has the ability to charge artificially high prices. By allowing consumers to purchase insurance policies across state lines, the Affordable Care Act uses free market economics to drive the price of insurance costs down. For example, if the price of a specific insurance policy is too high in one state, consumers can then purchase a comparable albeit less expansive plan from another state. This competition will drive the price of insurance down.

The Affordable Care Act has a plethora of other provisions that will prove to be beneficial in the long run. Children can now stay on their parent’s health insurance until they reach age 26. Also, insurance companies can no longer deny coverage to someone who has a preexisting condition. The Affordable Care Act is paving the way for a better health care system in the United States.

Got an opinion on this matter? Let us know on twitter #nobamacaredynamo or #obamacaredynamo!!!

Rumors are flying regarding the shooting of  17-year-old Trayvon Martin.

I first heard about this case by word of mouth around campus. The story I had been told was that a 12-year-old black boy was shot and killed in Florida by a white neighborhood watchman simply because he was walking down the street with his hood up.

After researching this story, I realized that the old clichés are true: you can’t believe everything that you hear and there are two sides to every story.

The first rumor that was circulating, which was incorrect, was that Trayvon Martin was 12 years old. Martin was 17 when he was killed. The second false piece of information was that Martin’s shooter, George Zimmerman, was a white male. Zimmerman, however,  identifies himself as being Hispanic on his voter registration. While looking at the whole picture, these details may seem minuscule, but it just goes to show that people will talk without knowing the whole story. This leads me to my next point: does anybody know the real story?

There are many claims made from each side of the story that if they were true, would change the story completely.

Some say that Martin was innocently walking back from the convenience store when he was shot and killed by Zimmerman, who was a neighborhood watch volunteer. They claim this was a hate crime. Martin’s girlfriend testified that he called her and said, “This dude is following me.” Phone records show that Trayvon had indeed placed calls to that number minutes prior to being shot.

Other reports claim that Martin initiated it by attacking Zimmerman out of nowhere, who then acted in self defense. The first police officer on the scene reported that Zimmerman’s nose and back of his head were bleeding from the assault.

“I don’t know if it was a racial instance; if it was then that’s a shame. Regardless, it was an unwanted act of violence,” senior Erik Reed said. “It shows that we have a long way to go. The laws that are put in place obviously need to be looked at.”

Whether Martin was walking down the street minding his own business with his Skittles and ice tea in hand, or even if he had gotten into a scuffle with Zimmerman, the outcome was that a life was taken too soon. The shooting of Martin was a sad occurrence, which will hopefully result in a change to Florida law to prevent other juveniles from being killed.

We may never know exactly what happened in Florida that day, but it is important to hear both sides of the story.

Written by Reita Silvis and Steven Kaufman

On March 17, several Dynamo and Unonian staffers were given the privilege to attend the College Media Association’s Spring College Media Convention in New York City, representing a part of Mount’s communication department.

Many students enjoy a good school trip where they can get away from the hectic life of being at Mount Union and focus on what they want to do with their majors to get better at what they do. During this trip, we felt the oppression of not being a student athlete.

We had been responsible students, telling our professors nearly three months in advance about this career-oriented convention and then reminding one in particular about a week before we left.  We had asked her for the notes so we would not be lost during her lecture and especially because we had a test the week we were expected to come back. Since the class tests are based off of the notes, it was vital she provided us some means of getting them.

However, we were turned down and advised to get the notes from other students and to listen to the lectures online on ANGEL to catch up and prepare for the test. The students we knew had missed class part of the time we were away, leaving us at a high disadvantage for the test.  We panicked and began to listen to the lectures on ANGEL and took notes from what was online, only to get lost and for them to not even to help us study. Needless to say, we failed that test.

The kicker for this lovely situation is that a few weeks earlier, some track athletes in our class told our professor that they would not be in class for one day during that week, and when they had asked for the notes there was no hesitation in her distributing the PowerPoint to them.  We mentioned the trip to her months in advance and had been good students about it and still were not granted the notes. Not surprisingly, a week later, when a baseball player told our professor he had a game during the time of an exam that morning, she gave him an extension to take it the following week while the rest of the class still had to take it that day. While we are not part of a team that goes out to compete against other universities, we did go out and represent the school in a national conference in order to improve our overlooked paper and yearbook.

We realize that it is certainly not the athletes’ fault that we did not get the notes or extra time to prepare for the exams. However, we think that it needs to be said that students who work extremely hard in extracurricular activities that deal with their major are not treated with equality compared to student athletes. It is not the athletes’ fault that they get treated like royalty, but there is a problem when they can tell a professor a few days or even hours in advance and get the notes or an extension while students that give far more notice are neglected and their grades suffer.

Roughly 35% of the approximate 2,200 students at Mount participate in non-intramural athletics, while the other 65% of us work hard in organizations and are constantly out-shined, having no accommodations made for us because we do not dribble a ball down the court, run across a track, make goals, pitch, hit, throw or make touchdowns. There should be a policy where student athletes are held to the same standards we are and offer n0n-athletes the same benefits as athletes, should they get special treatment. This is an abomination and strides must be made in order to spread equality throughout our university’s academics.

People in ten states voted for who they wanted to be the Republican nominee on Tuesday, March 6.

After all the votes were counted, Mitt Romney won the most states and delegates, followed by Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul. Romney won in six states, including Alaska, Idaho, Massachusetts, Ohio, Vermont and Virginia. Romney received 165 electoral votes for the six states he won, plus 47 from other states, for a total of 212. Santorum had victories in three states, including North Dakota, Oklahoma and Tennessee. He received 51 electoral votes for the states he won, plus 35 from other states for a total of 86. Gingrich won one state, his home state of Georgia, and received 47 electoral votes. He also received 27 electoral votes from other states for a total of 74. Paul didn’t win any states but did receive 21 electoral votes for close finishes in Alaska, Vermont, Virginia and North Dakota.

Most states were won by large margins, but Ohio came down to the wire when determining the winner. Romney held a slight advantage all night while the votes were being counted, but he was never able to pull away from the other candidates. When all the votes were counted, he achieved victory by a less than 1 percent margin with just over 10,000 more votes than Santorum.

“Ohio was definitely a nail-biter, it was interesting that it was actually that close,” said Nick Howley, vice president of the College Republicans.

Besides Ohio, things on Tuesday turned out mainly as expected, according to College Republicans.

“I think the fact that Newt Gingrich won his home state of Georgia wasn’t a huge surprise, a lot of people thought he would win Georgia,” said Tyler Anderson, president of the College Republicans. “I think the results of Super Tuesday were pretty much what people expected going into Super Tuesday.”

“It was no surprise that Rick Santorum carried the states that he did, as those are typically heavily evangelical, very conservative voters. It’s also no surprise Mitt Romney carried Massachusetts, his home state,” said Howley.

Some are saying that with none of the candidates dropping out after Super Tuesday and a long primary continuing Barack Obama could be considered the big winner of the night, since the Republicans are still spending their resources attacking themselves instead of him, but others feel a long primary won’t hurt the party.

“I don’t buy into that, I would like to see the candidates take a pledge to focus their negative attacks on Barack Obama and not on each other, because I think negativity, once you get late into a primary isn’t a good thing, and I don’t think anybody wants to see Republicans attacking Republicans, but I don’t think that a longer primary is going to hurt the eventual nominee as long as it ends by May or June,” said Anderson.

“A long primary does not hurt us because by the time we go to convention, as long as we have our nominee set no one is going to remember this long primary battle, everyone is going to rally around the candidate we select, no matter who that is,” said Howley.

At this point in the Republican Primary race, Romney is leading with a total of 495 electoral votes, Santorum is in second with 252, Gingrich third with 131 and Paul last with 48. A total of 1144 electoral votes are needed to secure the nomination.

Many students understandably complain about the food in the cafeteria because it is not of the quality they are used to at home.

However, when it is an easy source of meals and is conveniently placed in a spot on campus that gets regular traffic every day, you would think they would be a tad more grateful. Despite all of the negative opinions people seem to have, students still appreciate and recognize the upside to eating in the cafeteria, and the majority of them even have a favorite dish.

For instance, Jennifer Reed, a sophomore physics major, says her favorite meal from the cafeteria is the macaroni and cheese. “The mac and cheese they make is always great because it is super creamy and doesn’t have an overload of cheese.” Every time the cafeteria serves macaroni and cheese, there is always a long line to get to it and many students find it worth the wait for Reed’s reasons and more.

Some students mentioned the Texas salad, sandwich wraps (most hyped over on Wednesdays) and mashed potatoes on their lists of favorite AVI foods. Others, like sophomore biology major Olivia Quinn, favor the pork schnitzel because “it’s always good.”

Marty Chaffin, a sophomore sports business major, states that the chicken cheese quesadillas are the best meal the cafeteria has to offer because “they are so simple yet so delicious, and they are one of the only tasty things there.” Because AVI makes them fresh, students go crazy for them.

Ashley Woodburn, a sophomore biology major, agrees with Chaffin, claiming that every time they make the quesadillas she can “eat eight plates of them.” On the other hand, she cannot forget that her most favorite meal from the cafeteria is the Swedish meatballs.

Dear Audrey,
Spring weather is so confusing! In the morning I’m bundled up tight in my winter coat but by noon the temperature is sometimes near 50 degrees! Should I break out the flip-flops and shorts, or am I in for 6 more weeks of UGGS and jeans? This Ohio weather is crazy! HELP!
Sincerely, Bundled-up-with-flip-flops

Dear Bundled,
I feel your pain. I hate closed shoes and I would wear flip-flops all year if I could. In my opinion, 40 degrees and up is safe for flip-flops (unless you’re sensitive to chilly weather… in that case, wait for 50 degrees). Shorts are not “okay” yet. Unless you are walking to/from the MACC, stick with jeans or sweat pants. Capris are acceptable on warmer days.
Don’t send home your winter coats or snow boots quite yet. The groundhog said 6 more weeks of winter and I doubt the snow is done for the year. Check the weather before you go out, keep a hoodie close by and count down the days to summer!
Sincerely, Audrey