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june 2007 news the stentorian | ncssm Obama and McCain Take Stands on Offshore Drilling By April Pullium Barack Obama remained vehemently opposed to offshore oil drilling until the beginning of August. He advocated the search for alternative fiiels and questioned the effect offshore drilling could have on gasoline prices, saying that it would take years before the United States could find any oil and begin drilling. However, he recently stated that he would be willing to permit offshore drilling if it were part of a compromise introduced by the Senate. If passed, this compromise would lift a moratorium on offshore drilling, take away $30 billion in tax breaks for oil companies, and promote conservation and alternative energy sources. Obama said that. he supports the compromise as a means of preventing legislative gridlock over the energy crisis but remains a skeptic of offshore drilling. Obama has proposed several measures to lower gasoline prices. In addition to focusing on alternative fuels, he plans to regulate the oil market by punishing speculation, take away tax breaks for oil companies, and give “energy rebates” to assist taxpayers who are suffering from high gas prices. He also recently proposed that the government could sell barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, an emergency supply of oil that President George Bush has refused to use for this purpose. Obama’s opposition to lifting the moratorium on drilling placed him in a difficult political position, as public support for offshore drilling is high. He now says that he will only permit careful, limited drilling that is done with regard to the environment and still insists that the action will have a minimal short-term effect on gas prices. John McCain dropped his opposition to lifting a moratorium on offshore oil drilling in June as gas prices rose to around $4 a gallon. He now approves of allowing states to choose whether to let oil companies drill off their shores; however, his environmental sympathies preclude him from allowing drilling in Alaska’s Arctic Wildlife refuge. McCain says that drilling offshore will increase the United States’ supply of oil and help control painfully high gas prices. In addition to lowering gas prices, McCain believes that offshore drilling will be a vital step in the process of achieving energy independence. McCain also hopes that the domestic production of oil will help to decrease the United States’ trade deficit, 41 percent of which is due to oil imports. He stresses the necessity of becoming independent of oil imported from Middle Eastern coimtries. Many of these coimtries have hostile attitudes toward America, and McCain suggests that dire situations could arise from relying on oil imports from these areas. Although McCain is in favor of finding alternative fuels and fuel- efficient vehicles, he says that they will not become capable of serving as a substitute for oil anytime soon. He has decided to push for offshore drilling and the passage of laws that will punish oil speculation and regulate the market. McCain hopes that these actions will eventually lead to lower gasoline prices. Americans are becoming exceedingly fiustrated with unreasonable gas prices; even voters in environmentally conscious states are desperate for a solution and approve of lifting the moratorium on offshore drilling. Spotlight Falls On New Teachers By Hillary Seybold For all of the incoming juniors, every teacher is a new face, a new teaching style, a new guide through learning. Some familiar faces for the returning seniors will not be present this year. Some instructors have resigned from their teaching positions at NCSSM, and will be missing for this upcoming school year. New teachers have stepped up to take their places in the NCSSM community. They take their places as not only teachers of their respective subjects, but also as mentors in the lives of their students. At NCSSM, students often have such close ties with their teachers, ties which would not likely be found in other high schools. And now—an opportunity to get a head start on meeting some of these new teachers: Dr. Mark Dubois 1. What department will you be teaching in? Also: What courses will you be instructing? Humanities/History - I’m co-teaching the Asia sequence with Mrs. Smallwood throughout the year and I’m teaching International Relations in the spring 2. Where have you taught previously? I’ve taught both International Relations and National Security at Duke University. 3. What are you most looking forward to about teaching NCSSM students? I’m looking forward to the challenge. I feel that the students have a lot to teach me. 4. What interests do you have outside of teaching? I follow the news - national and international - very closely. I also travel quite a bit and I like studying etymology and foreign languages. 5. Who do you respect/ admire most in your field of study? As a student of international relations and political science. I’m a big fan of Robert Keohane and Alexander Wendt - two scholars who offer different strands of hope in an otherwise tragic international environment. If I also get to pick someone long deceased, Thucydides was the man. 6. Feel free to add in any tidbit about yourself which won’t prove to be too embarrassing should it turn up in the Stentorian: Love the Duke basketball Dr. Les Fleming 1. I will be teaching in the Physics Department this year (PH 352/354, Physics with Advanced Topics). 2. I’ve recently taught physics at Guilford College and NC State University. I also taught labs and recitation sections as a graduate student at UNC-Chapel Hill. 3. As far as NCSSM students go. I’m both hoping and expecting that they will be interested in learning physics! 4. Outside of teaching, I enjoy reading a variety of subjects (science, religion, folk tales, do-it-yourself books, etc.). I spend time with my friends. I also like to watch ACC and SEC College Football, when I have time, and the occasional baseball game. 5. Among physicists, I most admire Josiah Willard Gibbs, for his contributions to thermodynamics. He is also reported to have said “A mathematician may say anything he pleases, but a physicist must be at least partially sane.” That’s a gem of a quote about doing physics! Ms. Darla Smallwood 1. Humanities—Asia I,II, HI (with Mr. Dubois); World Religions (just me!) 2. Most recently, Fike High School in Wilson, NC (also Hunt High in Wilson, and East Wake, among other places) 3. All that I can learn from them as (I hope) they learn from me — and NO MORE LUNCH OR BUS DUTY! YAY! , 4. Acting, watching comedy, internet surfing, working out, reading, shopping, shopping -- did I mention shopping? 5. It’s too hard to pin this down to one person, but I do admire and live by author Gail Godwin’s assertion, “Good teaching is one fourth preparation and three fourths pure theater.” 6. I am an English teacher first and foremost, though some of my teaching assignments may seem more like social studies, so watch your grammar, punctuation, and spelling, guys! Dr. Ryan Pietropaolo 1. Mathematics Department; Pre-calculus and Calculus Topics BC 2. Mount Olive College, Finger Lakes Community College, Colorado State University, University of Wyoming 3. I believe the students at NCSSM will rise to the high expectations that I set for them in the classroom. Furthermore I hope to encourage them to participate in various forms of physical activity to create a balance between mind and body. 4. My interests outside of the classroom range from politics/current events to competing in triathlons. I also enjoy taking looong road- trips. This summer I drove to Colorado and then on to New York before heading home to Durham. 5. I greatly respect the accomplishments of women in the field of mathematics. Historically females were not allowed to study mathematics and more recently women have had to overcome gender stereotypes that have steered them away from mathematics. 6. I have lived in the Triangle for four years and I am sad to admit that I still have not decided a favorite team between Duke, North Carolina, and NC State. I am open to persuasion! Other teachers that are new to the NCSSM community include: Dr. Lisa Frederico- Zuraw, Chemistry; Ms. Caryn Louie, Foreign Language; Ms. Meredith Murphy, Social Studies; Ms. Elizabeth Peeples, English; Mr. Phillip Riggs, Music; Mr. Adam Sampieri; Dr. Angela Teachy; and Ms. Tonya Smith-Holliman, Foreign Language.
North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics Student Newspaper
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Aug. 1, 2008, edition 1
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