OPINION
7A
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2008
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
COMMENTARY
I choose not to choose in election
So Super Tuesday came by and flew right over my head unheeded. I know, I hear all the critical cries coming at me now. "It is your right as a citizen to vote and to know your candidates." "How do you consider yourself American if you don't even participate in democracy?"
The truth is, I would love to participate, but all I see are empty promises from politicians who promise change and I'm positive that I'm not the only college student who is jaded with American politics. The youth vote is one of the most fruitless pursuits a politician could pursue. So I'm obviously not alone in my principles.
In this current political climate, I do believe that change is needed, and it is the reason why that if I do vote, I'm voting for Obama (the only reason I'd vote for Hilary Clinton would be to call former president Bill Clinton, the First Lady). However, I will not take any criticisms about how I'm not American because I don't have the enthusiasm to vote for the next guy who says, "I promise if I'm president, I'll do blah blah blah, here is some political propaganda so that I'll win"
Like any other civilization in history, it is not just politics that makes a culture.
More people tune into and vote for the next American Idol that tune into or vote for whatever political thing that's happening. I'm not saying that's what I recommend, I can't stand American Idol, but this surely says something about America.
It's not that our political system doesn't work, it does work, because options are always presented to us, whether to vote for republican or democrat, which republican candidate or which democrat candidate, or to whether tune into a favorite show or Meet the Press.
What one loves about America could come down to simple things like watching baseball, America's past time, or simply obsessing about the lives of the rich and the famous since America is a capitalist society.
It's the notion that some Americans will say their favorite holiday is the Super Bowl, and I think that is American. It isAmerican. It's the notion that one could get crazed about the Yankees versus the Red Sox in the World Series, and that's American.
It's the notion that someone could publicly criticize a political figure, and he or she could not be touched because it is their right, that's American.
It's the notion that one could vote for whoever they wish, and I believe that's American.
It's the notion that one could choose, and I think that is what is great about America.
Brown is a Lee's Summit, Mo., junior in journalism.
As if by divine intervention, a three-month strike ends
Max Rinkel
COMMENTARY
Free ency-KU-pedia
WiKUpedia is students' prime site for all information about University
A great commercial airs during the basketball games, where several aspects of the University are showcased in brief, action-filled clips, set to a combination of the University alma mater and the Rock Chalk chant. According to the clip, an incredible array of experiences exist at the University of Kansas, something I certainly will not argue with.
It is nearly impossible to find out exactly all of the things on that screen were without conducting an extremely thorough, time-consuming study of the entire campus, and this to somebody who has had three
years to learn about things. I
As it turns out, an easy place to research everything has recently been established. It's called KUKupedia, a simple wiki-style site created by a group of University students. The name should be pretty self-explanatory. Like Wikipedia, the site allows people to create or edit entries about any subject. The only difference is that, in this case, everything has a University focus.
The project was initially created by members of the group Connect, a Student Senate coalition. The group's plan was to create a place where all students had easy access to information about Student Senate, which has long been notoriously complicated to those not heavily involved. The desire to set up a Web site where students could research the senate sprunge because Student Senate's own Web site has not been updated since what may very well have been the Dark Ages.
Soon after WiKUpedia was introduced something happened. Within a few weeks of the site's launch, there were already a few thousand unique visitors to it. People not in any way affiliated with Student Senate discovered WiKUpedia, and began shaping into something that transcended that one aspect of the University.
In the span of a few weeks, the site has gone from a repository of Senate information, to a place where one can find at least a little bit about anything related to the University.
I got in touch with Jason Oruch, one of the leaders of the Connect coalition, and he explained WIKUpedia "has expanded. It's got article about campus buildings, University alumni, even camping for basketball tickets."
Oruch described the site as having quickly become greater than a project of his coalition, and rather as a new resource for all students to both learn from and contribute to. Because of this, work on the site has actually split off from Connect,
and gone to a new group called the WIKUpedia Project, devoted specifically to updating and expanding it to be as detailed as possible.
After I learned a little about WiKUpedia, I began going through it myself, and I have to admit, I've become a little bit fascinated with it. Like Jason had described to me, there have been at least brief articles written about many areas of campus, as well as notable alumni, and several professors. Many student organizations have also used the wiki to post detailed entries about themselves and their events.
The most thorough entries remain those about Student Senate, It will — I hope — continue growing at the pace it currently is, and finally there will be an organized place for people to learn about all that is KU.
Cohen is a Topeka junior in political science and English.
》 LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Troop withdrawal from Iraq would plunge area into chaos
In the coming months the choice will be yours. A variety of presidential candidates stand on both sides of the war: Should the US should work for peace or should we cut our losses? Please, make an informed decision looking forward and not an emotional one looking back to Bush's deceit.
The war is certainly not a traditional war in which nationalities and battle lines are clearly drawn. Sunnis, Shites, and Kurds are set on the extermination of each other. The only thing obstructing complete ethnic cleansing is the presence of US forces.
us from the work that our country is doing. Our history is that we were deceived when we entered Iraq. The world was told we were entering for Weapons of mass destruction, and since we've discovered that much of the information delivered to the UN was a stretch of the truth.
We were deceived, and that hurts.
It hurts because our friends and family were put in harm's way and many died for reasons that don't seem to hold up now. It hurts, but if we let our emotions stand in the way of the decisions that we will make, then we're doomed to failure. When we choose how to move forward we must act with care, or we might make as rash of a decision in leaving
as we made when entering Iraq.
What frightens me is that immediate history seems to be blinding
The easy decision would be to leave quickly. Americans are heartbroken by our casualties and want an end. George Orwell said, "The quickest way of ending a war is to lose it" and the peacekeeping our forces are doing is no different. The US envoy to Iraq warns that if such a pullout were to occur that Iraq would degrade into a civil war or worse. The entire region could be drawn in to the conflict that would kill countless Iraqis. The question is how many American deaths justify how many Iraqi deaths. If we consider all life to be equal then the US cannot even think about a withdrawal that will probably kill
more Iraqis in a few months than the casualties our country would take in a year.
Looking into the future it's not certain that withdrawal would save Americans. While this generation might be spared more bloodshed, the next generation could pay for a destabilized Iraq. If we leave and a regime supporting terrorism sprouts in our place then the battleground might move to our back yard.
Sincerely.
Dustin Gorud
Junior, aerospace engineering
Milbank, South Dakota
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Members of the Kansan Editorial Board are Darla Slipke, Matt Erickson, Diane Smith, Bryan Dykman, Lauren Keith and Zach White.