Powell was one of the chief reasons the U.S. invaded Iraq. On Feb. 5, 2003, he gave a speech to the United Nations Security Council, citing “evidence” that Saddam Hussein in fact did have weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Later, Powell himself said, “It turned out that the sourcing was inaccurate and wrong and in some cases, deliberately misleading.”

Deliberately misleading is exactly the problem with what Obama calls “politics as usual.” It is almost insulting for Powell to endorse Obama. Although Powell didn’t return to the Bush Administration when Dubya was re-elected in ‘04, Powell has not paid his dues.

It is impossible to say that Powell was responsible for going to war, but he had a big part in it. His careless and deceitful ways have killed thousands of American soldiers and Iraqis. He may have apologized, but that is simply not good enough.

Massaging CIA intel to support George W. Bush’s obsession with invading the Middle East is not something that should be forgotten, especially by the huge amount of young voters who were only in middle or high school when these things happened.

But maybe he’s being deliberately misleading — he might actually be voting for McCain.

The basis of her allegation comes from meetings the candidate had with Bill Ayers, a founder of the terrorist group Weather Underground. Unfortunately, Palin read the New York Times wrong. The Times said that while the men had met, they did not seem to have been close. She also apparently forgot that Obama was 8 years old when Ayers committed his terrorist actions.

To be clear: both men live in Hyde Park, and Obama claims that he ran into him last year. But living in the same neighborhood in Chicago does not make you besties.

This is just another desperate attempt by the McCain campaign to draw attention from the failing economy in light of slipping poll numbers. Basically, Palin can’t talk about her own policies–she doesn’t have any–or Obama’s policies–she doesn’t understand them–so she tries to question his moral character. Politics as usual?

Even, apparently, Joe Biden. When asked about the ad by the press he said that he thought the ad was “terrible, by the way,” and “I didn’t know we did it, and if I’d had anything to do with it, we would have never done it.”

McCain’s camp fired back a statement after the ad ran, saying “Barack Obama has brought the sleazy gutter politics of Chicago to our national stage.”

The ad ran only six times, according to an employee at CNN. Make of it what you will, but it doesn’t change the fact that John McCain doesn’t know how to send an e-mail.

Watch the video here.

Most proponents of the legal drinking age of 21 use the dramatic decrease in traffic fatalities and drunk driving that have occurred since 1984 as a cornerstone argument. According to the Century Council, an organization founded to prevent drunk driving, underage drunk driving fatalities decreased from 5,655 in 1986 to 2,642 in 2006.

This 54 percent drop in drunk driving deaths is important, but attributing the decrease solely to the drinking age ignores other factors contributing to the drop in deaths. The Ad Council, along with the U.S. Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT) launched a nationwide campaign to educate citizens on the dangers of drunk driving in 1983. According to a press release, the “Friends don’t let friends drive drunk” campaign of 1990 resulted in a 10 percent drop in drunk driving rates among 16-24 year olds, the largest annual drop yet recorded.

In addition to the landmark ad campaign, driving on U.S. highways changed dramatically in 1974 as well. The National Maximum Speed Law, part of the Emergency Highway Energy Conservation Act, prevented much death on U.S. highways, and the New York Times reported that 45,000 lives had been saved by 1984. This sharply decreased traffic fatalities, and clouds the statistics about the benefits of the drinking age.

Furthermore, resources are wasted on trying to prevent underage drinking. It is impossible to stop underage people from drinking. Even Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) admit that only 31 percent of parents of 15- to 16-year-olds believe their child had a drink in the past year, compared to the 60 percent of teens in that age group who reported drinking.

The most reliable way to reform underage drinking is to decrease the amount of people who are legally underage. By lowering the drinking age to 18, still higher than most countries in the world, we could decrease the number of “minor in possession” cases greatly. According to Jeralyn Merritt, a writer for the politics magazine TalkLeft, the “juvenile courts are jammed with ‘minor in possession’ cases. If they weren’t, they might have more time and funds to deal with the kids with more serious issues.”

If the amount of money that was spent prosecuting 18 to 21-year-olds was spent on alcohol education in schools or on assistance for low-income families who are much more likely to abuse alcohol, we might get somewhere. By preventing the problem through alcohol education, rather than treating the symptoms of a too-high drinking age, countless dollars and hours could be saved.

In response to growing numbers of college students participating in binge drinking — defined as five (for men) or four (for women) drinks within a one-to-three-hour period — heads of major universities across the country have advocated lowering the drinking age from 21 to 18. The Amethyst Initiative, signed by 130 universities (at press time) including Johns Hopkins and Dartmouth, encourages the lowering of the drinking age to cut down on “a culture of dangerous, clandestine binge-drinking, often conducted off campus,” according to an official statement.

While Northwestern has yet to endorse the Amethyst Initative, it cannot be ignored that binge drinking happens here, on and off campus. The most recent, startling and tragic example of this is the death of Matthew Sunshine (SESP ‘11) last June.

Though it is impossible to stop all dangerous drinking, lowering the drinking age would help to decrease the number of binge drinkers in a way that alcohol education has not. By removing the stigma of underage drinking, especially for college students, drinking may become less of a sport and, consequently, much less dangerous.

It’s business time for ASG this week. The Campus Public Relations Committee (aka the people who tell you what ASG is doing) are having a meeting that is open to the public tomorrow night at 8 p.m. in the ASG office.

If you just can’t stand to stay on campus tomorrow, venture into Chicago to support School of Music performers play at Millennium Park. At 6 p.m. in the Jay Pritzker Pavilion, multiple NU ensembles will play Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” and Strauss’s “Alpine Symphony,” among others.

The lacrosse team may be dancing in Maryland, but sad news for followers of NU’s softball team: They’ve been knocked out of the NCAA tournament. There’s always next year, right?

If you ordered your copy of the Syllabus, you can pick that up today from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Rock. And don’t worry if you didn’t order one, the staff will be selling them all day at the Rock, too.

LGBT? Don’t know what that stands for? This is the week to find out. There’s a themed lunch at the Allison dining hall today, and the theme is “Coming Out Over the Summer.” If you have class, you can always come out and paint the Rock tonight in support of Rainbow Week, or attend a talk on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Sexual Health and Assault at 7 p.m. The talk will be held in Kresge 2-420.

Can’t get over those days playing with the alphabet and Big Bird? Well, we can’t promise that jolly yellow giant, but Maria is coming to town. She’ll be in Tech LR3 at 6:30 p.m. courtesy of Alianza.

Students built robots on Saturday for prize money. Photo by Michael Peshkin.

Bobb said they began working on the robot at the start of Winter Quarter, and “majorly started working on it after DM.”

To win the competition, robots had to be able to pick up six balls and shoot the balls into opponent robots’ goals. The robots could not be larger than a 12-inch cube, and their sport was played out in an eight-by-eight foot arena.

“It’s incredibly difficult to get the robot to go in a straight line, let alone go to where you want it to,” Bobb said.

And what will they do with the dough?

“I’m in McCormick,” Bobb said, “so I’ll probably use it to buy all my expensive engineering books.”

If misrepresenting your ethnicity isn’t your thing, maybe you can find culture elsewhere: stop by the Norris Box Office after 11 a.m. to pick up tickets for Avenue Q. They’re only $20!

Israel Week kicks off with a barbecue (kosher of course) on the Bobb basketball court. Everyone is invited to attend, and hookah will be available.

Keep the party going with First Pitch Bar Night, presented by the Northwestern Class Alliance, at Prairie Moon at 8 p.m. This is where NCA will pick who gets to throw the first pitch for NU Day at Wrigley, so bring your throwing arm — and your 18+ ID.

Those deciding on NU in the coming days might not want to talk to soon-to-be-graduating Law School students. They’re apparently up in arms about the prospect of Jerry Springer delivering the school’s commencement speech. Law students are purportedly circulating a petition against the idea. If you want to know about the Northwestern alum beyond the shock-and-awe TV show, check out the This American Life profile.

If you want a more sober, visceral way to get your emotions going, see Holocaust survivor Leo Melamed is speak in University 122 at 4 p.m. The Chicago businessman escaped Poland in the late 1930s and fled through Russia to escape the German prison camps. The event is sponsored in part by Hillel.

And don’t forget to give those baseball players a pat on the back. The Wildcats defeated the Ohio State Buckeyes twice this weekend in 6-4 and 14-8 victories. But, stunningly, Northwestern lacrosse lost on Sunday — after a record-setting 36 straight wins.

Marlee Matlin was eliminated from Dancing with the Stars last night in the most shocking results show of the season.

Matlin has been the inspiration behind the season, not only because she had never done ballroom dancing before, but because she couldn’t hear the music she was dancing to. The Oscar winner (in 1986 for Children of a Lesser God) has been deaf all of her life.

After hearing the news, she signed, “You know what? All I can say is thank you to the judges. I have the utmost respect for you and I want to thank the most magnificent Fabian for giving me the most beautiful art of dance in my life,” through her interpretor.

Week 7 of the competition continues on Monday night at 7 o’clock on ABC.