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TUESDAY, JANUARY 31, 2012
PAGE 5
opinion
FREE FOR ALL
Ban whaling on Potter Lake!
My conversation with you seems like a one-way street. Why don't you ever text me back?
Text your FFA submissions to 785-289-8351
You know your internet is terrible when you can't even load the page to test how slow it is. Thanks a lot, Apogee.
I'm proud that I don't even know where the Hawk/Wheel are, but FFA has taught me to never go there unless I want to be surrounded by drunk freshman who will ruin my evening. Thanks FFA!!
Editor's note: Happy to help!
The "friend zone" is just a place for guys too proud to admit some women don't want to date them.
Sirens before nine in the morning?
Get it together, KU.
Your standards and my dignity are probably having sexy time or something #shameless
My advice for not losing dignity is the same as it is for iPods. When you go out, leave it at home.
Conceal and carry on campus? The government knows the zombie apocalypse is coming and they don't want us unprepared. Embrace it.
People who have rolling backpacks...
Is this like an-on-going joke between all of you or what?
To the guy chewing tobacco in class
Where did you come from? K-STATE?
That awkward moment when you realize you're still growing your hair out because you hope it'll look like Jeff Withey's mop top.
To the guy on the bus lip singing to Taylor Swift...Don't expect to get laid anytime soon
What if air is poisonous and it just takes 80 years to kill us?
My bus driver just hit a possum. Is this real life?
For one day, just ONE day, can it be cloudy with a chance of meatballs?
I received a fortuneless fortune cookie. Does this mean I have no future?
Some guy approached me at the Hawk saying you can only get laid wearing polo. #challengingnorms
Someone stole my stapler. And my roommates. I'm waiting to one day come back and find them in Jell-o.
My two favorite deskies in mccollum aren't allowed to work together anymore because they have to much fun together.
TherelsNoGod
Nothing like making silent jokes about a girls' outrageous outfit with one of the maintenance workers in Fraser. #bonding
I never thought I'd see Ramen used as part of a balanced meal before today...
There are two crazy squirrels at Dole: a possessed one and a bomber. The possessed one makes weird noises, and the bomber throws pinecones and acorns at you.
A closer look at the state of our country
NATIONAL
President Barack Obama pauses during the State of the Union address at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012. Obama proposed new policies and legislation, including trading with China and incentives for domestic energy consumption
The State of our Union is getting stronger," said President Barack
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Obama in his most recent State of the Union address to the American people. This was Obama's fourth State of the Union, and an important one because this year is an election year, which means a possible reelection for Barack Obama. We can be sure that the Republican candidates have analyzed each and every statement, and while I won't go into that much depth, here is the main thing that I took from Obama's oration.
I took particular interest in President Obama's statement: "I'm a Democrat. But I believe what Republican Abraham Lincoln believed: that Government should do for people only what they cannot do better by themselves, and no more." After supporting this very conservative statement, he continued to propose liberal policy and regulations.
Such policies included the creation of a Trade Enforcement Unit to regulate trade with China,policies to prevent students from quitting high school until either graduation or they turn eighteen,and providing incentives for domestic energy consumption.
The back story on this Lincoln quote is the opposition of government regulations. Obama has proposed even more regulation on trade, education and energy. In a free market system, which Lincoln's quote is clearly supporting, these regulations are not necessary for an economy to flourish, and, in fact,
discourage growth.
Over time, I have become a firm Constitutionalist. Continual government regulations have driven our economy down to, and nearly beyond, the breaking point. Sure, job creation has spiked and the unemployment rate has decreased from the record highs it was at earlier in Obama's term, but is that an effect of the policies implemented by the current administration or simply a hope in the coming election?
Truthfully, it has much more to do with the hope that the next administration can do something to stop the current trends. The private and public sectors are tired of continual regulations. Seeing that more and more people are getting fed up with these anti-constitutional regulations, they believe there will be a Republican party victory in the November election and are slowly beginning to ready their businesses for a spike in production when these regulations are repealed.
The policies suggested by President Obama in this State of the Union address will not bring about the change that he hopes for, just
like his policies throughout the term have not been nearly as successful as he had hoped.
The $825 billion stimulus plan, which was predicted to have the unemployment rate below six percent at this point in time, hasn't come close to that. In fact, this is the first 35-month period since before World War II that the unemployment rate has stayed about 8 percent constantly. It even peaked at 10.1 percent in 2009, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Obamacare, which he promised would save the average family about $2,500 dollars on their premiums.
has actually made acquiring health care slightly even more expensive, accounting for an increase of around $132 dollars per year, according to a story by Kaiser Health News.
These are just a few examples of the countless failed policies put into effect by this administration. But even though these policies have failed, I will challenge anyone who says Barack Obama doesn't care about this country. He is doing what he believes is right and what he believes will turn this country around. He's simply wrong.
This is still a country founded on the American Dream. We all believe in a better tomorrow, and so does Barack Obama. This is a crucial time for our country. We have to keep hope alive. We can worry about the election come election time, but as for right now, we, as a major, elected him into office. President Barack Obama deserves the support of the American people whether we agree with his policies or not. It's time we give him the respect and support he has earned.
He cares about America, and above all else, he is still our president.
Ryan Schlesener is a sophomore in journalism and Italian from Herington.
POLITICS
The GOP's race to the White House
The Republican primary race is in full swing. A primary race that started with seven nominees has dwindled down to four. Only Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorney and Ron Paul remain and will today go in front of the Republican primary voters in the state of Florida.
Prior to the February 21 South Carolina primary, it appeared that Mitt Romney would finally get his chance as the Republican presidential nomination. However, following a dominating win in South Carolina in which he garnered 40 percent of the vote, it appears that Newt Gingrich is not out of the picture yet. And so, as the nominees prepare to go in front of Florida primary voters, here are the reasons why I believe President Obama will be facing Newt Gingrich come November.
Another man whose days are numbered is Rick Santorum. The former senator from Pennsylvania is the most socially conservative nominee remaining. Mr. Santorum's views include a strict opposition to same-sex marriage and a traditional view on family values, which has been juxtaposed with the less than perfect history of Speaker Gingrich. However, this election will be focus on economic issues; socially conservative issues haven't resonated with
First, let's not forget the populist choice, Ron Paul. The U.S. Representative from Texas ran in 2008 and gained a large amount of support from young voters with his Libertarian and populist ideals. He believes in pulling back troops from overseas, cutting world aid programs, putting the dollar back on the gold standard and curtailing the Federal Reserve, IRS and the welfare state.
Because his message is popular with young voters, he'll never become a serious Presidential contender. The most active voting demographic in this country is over the age of 45. He has stuck around to spread his message, but he'll drop out at the last moment and become the Libertarian candidate.
voters. If Santorum is around by Super Tuesday on (March 6th), I'll be surprised.
This leaves us with the two men that will likely duke it out for the nomination. The cool, calculated "Massachusetts moderate" Mitt Romney and the brash, 'neversay-die' former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich.
They couldn't be any different. Romney is the Northeastern business man; quick-witted, financially focused, and has a reputation as a flip-flopper who lies somewhere left of the conservative heart of the GOP.
Gingrich is the Georgian conservative gunslinger. As Speaker of the House, he led the way for the first Republican-majority in the House in 40 years but was forced to resign in disgrace. Gingrich's South Carolina win was based on the belief that he is more electable than Romney, a quality that had until recently, been tied with Romney's name.
Speaker Gingrich's debate performances led many to believe that he'd be able to compete with President Obama who is a great orator himself. Romney has painted Gingrich as part of the D.C. establishment. At the same time, Gingrich has continuously played on Romney's moderate reputation. Their policies aren't all that dissimilar, but their images are.
It is Romney's inability to perform in debates and wealthy, moderate reputation that will hurt him. Newt Gingrich excites voters and will outperform Romney in the more conservative states, he'll simply have too many delegates to beat.
Billy McCroy is a senior in economics from Des Moines, Iowa.
ENTERTAINMENT
Academy disappoints with newest nominees
Like usual, the Oscar nominations are unsatisfactory
Ah, it's that most wonderful time of the year! Film lovers and film sorta-likers alike recently awoke to a fresh new batch of Oscar nominations and have begun their monthlong protest against the Academy's yearly incompetence. Yes, there's nothing quite as satisfying as rolling your eyes as hard as you can at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Did you know the sentence "Wow, the Academy really nailed it with the nominations this year!" has never been uttered? It's true! That's because the Academy nominates great movies with all the accuracy of a drunk chimpanzee throwing darts at a wall, except that even a drunk chimp probably wouldn't have nominated "The Help" quite so many times.
The most immediate disappointment seems to be the lack of nominations for Nicolas Winding Refn's "Drive". No one was particularly surprised that it didn't score a Best Picture nomination and even less so that star Ryan Gosling failed to get a Best Actor nomination, but Twitter has gone crazy over Albert Brooks' absence from the Best Supporting Actor category.
Critics had hailed his portrayal of mercurial mobster Bernie Rose as revelatory, and he was seen as a shoe-in at the Oscars. After finding out he was snubbed, Brooks tweeted, "And to the Academy: 'You don't like me. You really don't like me.'"
Honestly, though, the most shocking is the nominations for "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close". Despite being critically panned, the saccharine film about 9/11 and annoyingly precocious children managed to score a Best Picture nomination - probably because it was about 9/11 and had an annoyingly precocious child as the lead. According to
Lucas Kavner at the Huffington Post, "Extremely Loud" is the worst-reviewed movie move within the past ten years to snag a Best Picture spot.
It's not all bad, however: "The Artist", "The Descendants", and "Moneyball" predictably scored a slew of nominations and the Academy saw fit to throw a bone to Terrence Malick and his film, "The Tree of Life". Additionally, many great actresses and also Glenn Close were nominated for a wide variety of roles.
Part of the problem this year is
that 2011's roster of movies just wasn't that great. "Drive" was probably my favorite movie of the year, and I wasn't even that crazy about it. I can sympathize with the Academy when even I'm not 100 percent sure what I'd like to win Best Picture.
"That's because the Academy nominates great movies with all the accuracy of a drunk chimpanzee throwing darts at a wall."
Still, they could try a little harder. There was a push to get actor Andy Serkis, the man behind many CGI characters like Gollum and King Kong, a Best Supporting Actor nomination. He performed as Caesar, the chimpanzee who started a revolution in "Rise of the Planet of the Apes". While the CGI department obviously deserves a lot of credit for the role, critics hailed Serkis' subtle performance as he
went from wild animal to
ape-Che Guevera.
Nominating him would have been a chance for the Oscars to give recognition to an under-appreciated
and little known actor, but if Albert Brooks couldn't get in, what chance did Serikis have?
If we're being honest, though, I'll probably forgive it all if they bring the Muppets onstage to sing.
Lou Schumaker is a senior in film and media studies from Overland Park.
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