Opinion
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
NEUBAUER: TIME TO REVOLT AGAINST RECYCLING CRAZE
United States First Amendment
THURSDAY, MARCH 26, 2009
COMING FRIDAY
WWW.KANSAN.COM
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
FREE FOR ALL
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PAGE 7A
So my friend was trying to submit a Free for All and thought that there was a registration fee of 2 cents ... It says "share your 2 cents."
I just learned I can lick my elbow ... You ask what I did last night. I say I did the impossible.
--cent for those with some college or an associate degree. 9.6 percent for
Is it time for a new roommate when you find him maxing out in squat, wearing nothing but underwear and shoes?
--cent for those with some college or an associate degree. 9.6 percent for
Murdoch,why didn't you see the damn iceberg?
--cent for those with some college or an associate degree. 9.6 percent for
To the guy wearing a K-State shirt: Shouldn't you be mowing my lawn?
--cent for those with some college or an associate degree. 9.6 percent for
Why is KU getting rid of all the trees?
--cent for those with some college or an associate degree. 9.6 percent for
Thanks UDK for printing United Students' program. I thought they were all about showing off sorority chicks on Wesco before.
Is it sad that one of the best things about dating a deaf person was that they couldn't be heard.
--cent for those with some college or an associate degree. 9.6 percent for
First rule of being a KU student or fan: Never, ever, EVER root in favor of Missouri unless it will benefit Kansas!
--cent for those with some college or an associate degree. 9.6 percent for
Thank you to everyone who gets dressed without checking the weather for providing my daily entertainment.
--cent for those with some college or an associate degree. 9.6 percent for
I get the greatest joy out of the most mundane activities, like cleaning out the lint trap of the driver.
I just saw a guy who looked exactly like Will Smith.
--cent for those with some college or an associate degree. 9.6 percent for
Dear Tyrel Reed, I'm sorry people are dissing you. They are just jealous they don't look as beautiful as you do.
--cent for those with some college or an associate degree. 9.6 percent for
I am quite happy with life. I need a girlfriend to ruin that.
To the apartment below me:
Let your cat inside or tell your girlfriend to quit being so
--cent for those with some college or an associate degree. 9.6 percent for
Dear Guy playing the piano on the fourth floor of the Kansas Union this morning: I listened for an hour and a half and I think that's long enough to know that you should marry me. Sincerely, Head-over-heels
Usted piensa el FFA pondria comentarios en el papel si están en otra lengua?
--cent for those with some college or an associate degree. 9.6 percent for
EDITORIAL BOARD
Lessons in unemployment
U unemployment rose to an unnerving 8.1 percent in February, up from 4.5
Tyler Waugh/KANSAN
In February, up from 4.8 percent during February last year. For this year's graduating class, the increasingly dire economic picture means that finding a job or getting into grad school will be more difficult than ever. But most of the media's economic coverage does not convey exactly how the recession will impact employment prospects for the class of 2009.
The Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that a net 651,000 Americans lost their jobs in February, and unemployment in March will likely be higher still as the recession deepens and more firms are forced to make layoffs.
Graduates will face more competition for fewer jobs. However, the impact of the economic downturn has not been felt evenly. Some regions and
some industries have fared much better than others.
KANSAN'S
OPINION
The Bureau of Labor Statistics breaks down the unemployment rate by state, by type of work and by education level, and these numbers can tell us a lot about the best options for graduating seniors.
Lesson #1: Finish your degree
It goes without saying that getting a bachelor's degree will increase your potential income, but a degree also makes it much easier for you to find a job. For individuals with a bachelor's degree or higher, the unemployment rate was 4.2 percent in February, compared with 7.2 per-
those with only a high school degree, and 15.1 percent for those who didn't finish high school.
Lesson #2: Stay in the Midwest.
In January, the unemployment rate in Kansas was 6.1 percent, the thirteenth lowest in the nation. The rate in Lawrence was even lower, at 5.3 percent; it was 5.8 percent in Wichita, 6.6 percent in Topeka, and 8.2 percent in the Kansas City Metropolitan area. Kansas and other Midwestern states have fared well compared with the places like California, which was hit hard by the crash of the housing market, and Michigan, which has been economically devastated by the failing automobile industry. One in 10 Californians and one in nine Michiganders are unemployed.
EDITORIAL CARTOON
The only (faintly) bright spot in the economy can be found in education and the healthcare industry. Their combined unemployment rate is only 4.1 percent, and it's even lower for those with college degrees. In contrast, the unemployment rate in the construction industry is 21.4 percent, 11.5 percent in manufacturing, 10.8 percent in professional and business services, 11.4 percent in leisure and hospitality, 7.1 percent in information services and 8.9 percent in retail.
Lesson #3: Look for a job in healthcare or education
Lesson #4: Persevere
All things equal, 2009 is an unlucky year in which to graduate, but the job market will eventually recover, just as it always has. In the meantime, good luck.
Dan Thompson for The Kansan Editorial Board
YOU KNOW, BERNIE, YOU'RE KIND OF A JERK.
NICHOLAS SAMBALUK
BLOGS
An American (runner) in Paris
BY MARK DENT
mdent@kansan.com
It felt slick on the bottom of my shoes, too, as if the pavement wasn't actually pavement. The sidewalk must have been made of marble or something fancier, something even more French, something magical.
PARIS — The sidewalk gleamed on the Champs-Elysees. That's what I'll remember.
It was barely 7:30 in the morning. The sun hadn't quite crept all the way over the Louvre on the east end of the avenue, and only a handful of cars circled the Arc de Triomphe a few meters to the west.
Five people, maximum, walked down the glossy sidewalk. I had my running shoes on, iPod shuffle clipped to my shorts and a wide smile on my face, knowing I had the Champs Elysees all to myself.
Runners are a strange type. We live for pushing our body in ways that create new types of pain on an often daily basis, and usually do so early in the morning before school or work, or late at night, after the day is over and we should be watching TV or at least doing something that doesn't cause exhaustion. Worse, then we go and tell all of our friends how great running feels as they not their heads disinterestedly, thinking someone must have spiked our sports drink.
But I love running, especially vacation running. I remember the first time I ran on vacation. It came the summer before my freshman year of high school. My family was at a hotel on the beach. That morning I ran through the white sand and the sticky Florida humidity that didn't feel so bad after I dove into the ocean when I finished running.
This is what runners live for. The perfect run.
But the Champs-Elysees had a hold over me. I'm not really sure why, it's basically just a street, one with a bunch of overpriced stores and cafes and a totally out of place McDonald's. But the name Champs-Elysees stands for something. It stands for elegance. It stands for history. As the French say, it's "la plus belle avenue du monde."
So far in Europe, I've run over the canals of Venice in the falling snow, I've run along the Appian Way, the most famous road in all of Rome, and I've run on the Ponte Vecchio, a bridge so beautiful that even Hitler ordered the German troops not to destroy it.
Since then, I've tried to replicate those kinds of runs when I travel. Vacation running is the best. It's a taste of the unknown at a frenetic pace, and it's done best early in the morning.
So that's why I crawled out of the hotel room at 6:45 a.m. on Saturday. Soon, I was near the famous avenue, under the Arc de Triomphe.
Two tourists walked around with brochures in their hands. Green
Follow Mark's travels during his last semester of college in Rome at www.kansan.com/blogs/ notorious blog/
KANSAN.COM
I took off, nearly sprinting toward the sidewalk. I nearly slipped. It was that slick. That unreal. That magical.
street lights glowed down the street, preparing for the messy traffic that hadn't congested yet. That wouldn't happen until later in the day. Now it was my time.
I floated until I reached the halfway point of Champs-Elysees. At this point, I had to turn back for the hotel. I'd been running for too long, and paradise is best enjoyed in small doses anyway.
Later that afternoon, I went back to the Champs-Elysees with a few friends. People crowded both sides of the street, creating a sea of smashed bodies and shopping bags. Scammers asked if we spoke English so they could tell us a story about how we needed to give them money. The sparkle on the sidewalk had faded, and worst of all, it felt like pavement, definitely not marble.
That's the bad part about the magic of running. You always have to stop.
STUDENT LIFE
It's all about maintaining a healthy relation-sheep
Pope: Hey Ryan, I just came up with a great idea for our new column. Which do you think is better: owning a pet or having a boyfriend or girlfriend?
Ryan: That's funny, I just found this crumpled letter in our trash asking that same question.
Pope: 1 ... I don't know anything about that.
Ryan: Actually, that's not entirely true. I've met someone who qualifies as both. I'd like you to meet Shirley.
Ryan: But it has your hand-writing all over it. "Steal this idea, burn this paper, buy: axe, raincoat, milk".
Shirley: Baaah.
Pope: I knew my cereal tasted weird this morning! Anyway, I think we're perfectly qualified to preside over this case, seeing as how neither of us have a pet or a relationship.
Pope: I think I speak for everyone when I say "Ewe." Let's start by breaking down the mess each one makes. It's safe to say that you're all for owning pets, in which case I should have things wrapped up pretty easily. With significant others, you only have to occasionally pick up their dirty clothes, and clean their dishes, and take out their trash, and tidy their side of the bathroom, and dispose of their used pregnancy tests...
Ryan: Sounds like a lot of work. All I do is roll up the old copies of our columns that she eats and poops on, and throw them away. And I hardly ever spend money on her. Our idea of a romantic dinner is for me to walk her to Mass, so she can nibble on garbage. Are you as excited for our date tomorrow as I am, darling?
MICHAEL POPE & RYAN SNYDER
Shirley: Baaah.
Pope: But what about those things that only humans can give each other? Meaningful conversation. Words of encouragement. Sweet nothings and sappy love poetry and venereal diseases. How can you connect with someone when you have no real way of communicating with them?
Ryan: We communicate just fine. Nothing I say or do could ever result in an argument because she can't speak English. Or speak at all, for that matter. Plus, meeting her parents is highly unlikely, and if her mother doesn't approve of me I can just have her put down.
Pope: You know, I had planned to discuss intimacy as my trump card, but now I'm not sure that's such a good idea.
Ryan: Suffice it to say, we give a whole new meaning to the term "heavy petting".
Pope: I guess what we've learned here is that owning a pet and having a relationship are actually pretty similar. Each requires only that you follow a few basic rules: feed them, care for them, and if they try to run away chain them to a tree in the backyard.
Ryan: Love truly knows no bounds. Isn't that right, my dear?
Shirley: You guys are idiots.
Pope is a Kansas City senior in English. Snyder is a Leawood senior in English.
Students should stop hoarding cash and spend
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
A specter is haunting Lawrence — the specter of frugality. This ghost has scared our nation and our community into the terrible affliction of thriftiness. How did this happen? When economies are in recession, people start penny-pinching to save for a later date, spending less money on "feel-good" items such as new shoes or organic bread. Being parsimonious during this time of crisis displays poor confidence in our nation and our community.
Our economy is only as strong as the confidence that is placed in it, and right now, we students have not fulfilled our roles as protectors of our community's future. Therefore, as the economy stabilizes from a very volatile year, every student should start focusing more on their own contribution to our nation's troubles by going out and enjoying themselves during these next couple months before summer. Yes, that means every student
We can create experiences that we will remember for our lifetimes when we simply go to see that extra movie, or buy that extra margarita. Our lives are too short and our local economy needs you. Therefore, do the right thing and splurge.
Although spending more money to some might seem egregious, there are other benefits as well. In his March 24th column for the New York Times, John Tierney highlighted a study that proves that consumers are experiencing what he terms "hyperopia," or "farsightedness," when they are faced with the problem of thinking about the future too much, ignoring the present. He says people "end up looking back sadly on all their lost opportunities for fun." This is another reason why we should not sew our wallets into our pockets and our purses, and we should go out and spend.
should spend more money especially in Lawrence where some businesses are in risk of closing.
Michael Stock is a junior from Merriam
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THE EDITORIAL BOARD Members of the Kansin Editorial Board are Brenna Hawley, Tara Smith, Mary Sorrick, Kelsey Hayes and Dan Thompson.