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Arizona Daily Wildcat
The independent student voice of the University of Arizona since 1899 wednesday, january , dailywildcat.com
tucson, arizona
Passport deadline looms for Spring Break By Rodney Haas ArizonA DAily WilDcAt
Gordon Bates/Arizona Daily Wildcat
Differing opinions fuel Tuesday’s lunchtime debate between Scott Smith, left, a preacher in front of the Administration building, and Craig Johnson, right, a philosophy junior. The discussions will continue through the end of the week.
Gospel preachers return to UA By Laura Donovan ArizonA DAily WilDcAt “The Gospel means ‘good news,’ but we have to show the bad news first,” independent minister Shawn David Holes said to a small crowd by Heritage Hill Tuesday. This week, Holes traveled with independent street preacher Jeff Rose and Orlando, Fla., schoolteacher Scott Smith to the UA campus to preach the gospel to college students and hand out complimentary gospel pamphlets to passers-by and students. “I love young people, and I love students. They’re very respectful,” Holes said when asked why he visits college campuses all over the country.“When I was of college age, no one shared the gospel with me.”
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Rose agreed that the UA student reaction has ultimately been a positive one. “We’ve had a good experience here and received pretty positive dialogue,” Rose said. The preachers believe that college students have a need for their information and perspective. “This is a respectfully controlled campus,” Smith added.“College is a time when
College is a time when students are trying to figure stuff out, so we give them another set of thoughts and help them learn what they’re living for.
students are trying to figure stuff out, so we give them another set of thoughts and help them learn what they’re living for.” When asked if he knew of wellknown campus evangelist Brother Jed Smock’s direct approach to preaching, Rose said that he did not agree with
”
— Scott Smith, traveling speaker
Smock’s delivery. “I don’t know him, but our motivation
is to proclaim the gospel in respecting others. We’re not here to call names or degrade,” Rose said. Both enjoy not only talking about the gospel but listening to students. “I think it’s important to have all opinions available to students on campus,” said Keri Martell, an English language and linguistics graduate student. “You can’t excise faith from the human psyche. There’s even faith in having no faith. “I like them to be able to speak for themselves,” Martell added. Their talks include personal reflections and stories. “We all deserve God’s wrath,” Holes said. “Before I was saved, my sex outside of marriage and pot smoking was sending me to Hell. Jesus Christ is the only way out.”
Students have five days to apply for a passport if they plan on heading outside the United States for spring break. “(It must be) no later than Jan. 25 if they want to apply for a passport and request for routine processing,” said John Maciejewski, a passport agent at the UA Passport Application Acceptance Facility. “If they’re not going to get it done by Jan. 25, then they should apply no later than Feb. 12. If they do that then they will have to pay for expedite processing.” The requirement is part of the second phase of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, which took effect June 1, 2009 and required all U.S. citizens to present a valid passport when entering the United States by land. On Dec. 17, 2004, President George W. Bush signed the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act. The law was designed to improve security within the United States and tighten border protection. Part of this tighter border security is the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, which was set to begin in two phases. Phase one went into effect on Jan. 27, 2007, and required all travelers entering the United States by air to have a valid passport. During the first phase, Maciejewski said the Passport Facility, located at 1128 E. Mabel St., saw an influx of applicants, but when the second phase was implemented the amount of applicants leveled off. “After the second phase took effect there was a small peak but generally it’s been slow, and we attribute it to the economy,” he said. Maciejewski said that by law a U.S. citizen cannot be denied entry into the country but warned that they will be at the mercy of the U.S. Border and Customs Protection. “The bottom line is you can’t deny entry to a U.S. citizen,” said Bonnie Arellano, public affairs officer for the U.S. Border and Customs Protection.“If a U.S. citizen comes to a port of entry from Mexico or Canada and he or she PASSPORT, page A3
Obama faces 2nd year filled with tough challenges tHE ASSociAtED PrESS WASHINGTON — There will be no parade this time for President Barack Obama. No grand speech from the west front of the Capitol, no fireworks, no glittery balls to kick off the second year of his presidency on Wednesday, as there were for the first. Just a lot of hard work, an agenda full of unresolved problems and perhaps a more sober sense of just what’s possible for the 48-year-old president, who’s a little grayer now than he was a year ago. He faces a country that’s struggling to find its footing after a staggering recession, a nation that’s starting to show signs of growth but is still losing jobs. He looks out at a world where he’s made precious little progress, still trying to get Israelis and Palestinians to the peace table, and to get the North Koreans to give up their nuclear weapons and the Iranians to abandon their own
nuclear program. He’ll tackle those and other challenges with far less political capital than he had a year ago. His approval rating has dropped sharply and is the second lowest in half a century for any president entering his second year, while his disapproval rating is the highest ever at this point in a presidency. As a result, his fellow Democrats approach midterm congressional and statehouse elections this year nervous about being tied too closely to his agenda. Obama may have to change his to-do list in his sophomore year. If he gets a health care bill in coming weeks, he’ll pivot to jobs and the economy. Then a new budget, and changes in taxes. Proposals such as the “cap-and-trade” plan to limit the emissions that cause global warming probably will have to wait. So, too, will overhauling immigration law. “They have to rethink some things, recalibrate and refocus.
They tried to do too much. And he’s taken some hits as a result,” said Steve Schier, a political scientist at Carleton College in Minnesota. He’ll have to navigate not only through a wary Congress but also amid a backlash among many Americans against his agenda, notably his health care proposal. “The conventional wisdom a year ago was that the tectonic plates had shifted, that Obama could win and anything was possible,” said Michael Franc, the vice president of government relations at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative policy institute. Yet polls show that, despite the 2008 election, Americans remain more moderate to conservative than liberal, and that creates a headwind against Obama’s agenda for a more activist national government. “Addressing that gap between where he wants to take the country and what the American people will tolerate is his biggest single
challenge,” Franc said. “I’m not sure how much of his agenda he can get.” Obama aides said the president has done well in a very difficult economy, and predicted that he’ll do better as the economy rebounds. “We are happy with what we’ve achieved, but we’re not satisfied with what we’ve accomplished,” senior Obama adviser David Axelrod said in an interview with several reporters, arguing that Obama succeeded in keeping the economy from sinking into a depression while also passing such laws as pay equity for women. He acknowledged that Obama enters his second year with less political capital, but blamed that on the economy and insisted that both will come bouncing back. “If the economy improves as I believe it will over the course of the year, that will rebound to our benefit,” he said.
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President Barack Obama delivers remarks at the opening session of the Forum on Modernizing Government on Jan. 14 in Washington, D.C.
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