WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 25. 2013
TEXT FREE FOR ALL
Text your FFA submissions to 785-289-8351 or at kansan.com
The free condom people looked at me and laughed and said, "Here, have one anyway."
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I'm spending the day mourning the loss of @horse_ebooks. One way to find out math.
I have mixed feelings about being too small to donate blood.
friends don't let friends grow mullets.
I saw a hummingbird on campus today but upon closer inspection it was a moth. How crazy is that?
I wonder who's going to get more attention in campus. The blood drive bus or the condom tent?
So this morning I stepped on one of my free cups and forgot my lunch, only to find free cups and hot dogs at the library!
Just saw a squirrel drop out of a tree,
and then run away. I hate the squirrels here so much, they scare me!
I'd walk through the Campenile pre-graduation for a "ginger with a fabulous buoy." I'm looking.
Drake is the type of dude that takes notes during syllabus week.
You know it's gonna be a productive day when you spend 35 minutes looking at sloths online.
Excuse me, miss, but why the hell did you think it was ok to wear a mizzou shirt here?
Hawks football is 2-1 and I stayed up til 2 a.m. watching a Royals game go extra innings in September... what is going on!!!!
I've dressed inappropriately for the weather every day this week.
I predict 67% of KU's population will be sneezy and headache by the end of this week. Beware!
Walter Jr. from Breaking Bad: "Dad, quit thing around!"
Sting. I don't listen to his music, but the fact that he's making it, I respect
girls upset about juicy J's scholarship are just mad they can't wterk.
Being a boy in the honors program I'm disappointed I can't apply because I put in #werk
HUMP DAY
Children in the back seat cause accidents, accidents in the back seat cause children.
COMMON SENSE
I've lived two months in my apartment and have still yet to pee off my balcony.
First lady's health initiatives draw ridiculous criticism
Beware the socialist water. That's the message that many online commenters are screaming as they circle the rounds of innocently uncontroversial articles that have littered the web recently. These articles all have one, seemingly straightforward topic in common: Michelle Obama's new initiative called "Drink Up"
For those who don't know, the First Lady of the United States traditionally chooses some sort of project to work on while her husband is in office. Granted it's the President who gets elected, not the spouse, so it's understandable that people are wary of the First Lady overstepping her assigned duty. The thing is, there's historically been some very serious, controversial topics focused on by the First Lady, such as Eleanor Roosevelt's pursuit of equality for African American citizens during a time of continued segregation and Hillary Clinton's health
care initiative that riled so many against her. Issues like these were very brave, but potentially damaging to both of these women's (and their husbands)' political careers.
So when Michelle Obama chose a project to fight childhood obesity and get America healthier, it seemed like a walk in the park. I mean, what can be controversial about recognizing the well-documented problem of obesity in this country and trying to counteract it in positive ways like exercise and good eating?
Apparently, a lot.
Vicious comments once aimed at President Obama were turned to Michelle Obama, including such things as her initiative being a "socialist" movement and one to control and micromanage the lives of American citizens. No matter what Michelle Obama promoted as part of her campaign for health, it was met with skepticism at best and downright fury at worst. Which might be why a
By Anna Wenner
awenner@kansan.com
few people have quietly suggested that Michelle Obama and her team were testing the dedication of the Obama-haters when they came out with their new initiative: "Drink Up" — a program suggesting Americans drink more water.
Within days of this newly announced campaign, Politico reported on a multitude of experts who aimed to debunk her claims. Suddenly there were comments everywhere that Obama was trying to control every aspect of our lives because she suggested that we drink water. Because I mean, really, HOW DARE SHE. All across the web people are muttering in secluded chartrooms about Obama trying to force socialism on us all through her pushing of that horrific, might-not-be-goood-for-you water on us.
While I do think Obama was
serious about her wish for us to drink more water, there is a part of me that wonders if her team was testing the conservative outliers to see if they would find a way to disagree with and despise every project she proposed. If that was their intention, I think they got their answer.
But, you know, I don't think they've gone far enough. I mean sure, this sector of society can start boycotting water because it's become part of a "socialist" agenda, but they were probably already doing that anyway (no one needs water when you have soda, right?). So since Obama still has a couple of years left as First Lady, I thought I'd give her a few ideas to really test the boundaries of the Obama-hate.
1) Breathe More Air Campaign — Studies show that taking more breaths every day can help increase your heart rate and air out your lungs. Taking proper breaths in fresh, outside air is ideal. (Let's
see them try to boycott that one, shall we, Mrs. Obama?)
2) Do Whatever You Want Initiative — Since half of the trouble seems to come from Obama telling Americans what to do (even if it's telling through suggestions), this new initiative will trail away all of those arguments. It gives full power back to the people. And how, really, do you get angry about this one? Start doing what someone else tells you to because that way you aren't listening to
what the First Lady suggested?
3) Think More, Think Better Plan — You know, on second thought this one doesn't apply. I'm pretty sure thinking was boycotted the moment people started speaking out against drinking water.
POLITICS
Anna Wenner is a junior majoring in English from Topeka
Recent legal rulings have undone civil rights measures
A few years ago I went with my dad to a meeting with the prisoner mentorship program he worked with. He met with men who had recently been released from prison, and his primary role in the mentorship was focused on re-entry — helping and advising these men on how to assimilate into society again after typically lengthy prison sentences, sometimes scanning entire adult live
Anyone who knows my dad would not be surprised that he would be perfect for a position like this. He is a practitioner of tough love, something I can attest to firsthand as the primary source of his practice.
I thought a lot about that visit. As a kid growing up in the JoCo bubble, my life was too often lacking the kind of enriching exposure I received that day. I realized that all of the men I met came from drastically different backgrounds than myself, and they had grown up facing adversity that I will never understand. The men I met that day never had the opportunities I have been granted in my life. They could not skate through high school with a complete disregard for responsibility or their own privilege and then just waltz into college.
I also realized that nearly every single one of the men I met that day was black.
Over the summer, the Supreme Court made rulings on some landmark cases. As most people know, there was a victory for equality, however other verdicts
By Clay Cosby
ccosby@kansan.com
were not quite as progressive. The Voting Rights Act was, in essence, repealed. This act allowed the Federal Government to regulate voting standards in certain southern states to ensure that civil voting rights were upheld in the historically problematic region.
Affirmative Action also went to the Supreme Court in June. In that case, the Supreme Court upheld a ruling of a federal appellate-level court, which ruled in favor of scaling back affirmative action.
Both of these laws were initially put in place to protect rights that had been systematically violated and additionally promote the well-being and equal opportunity for any people that had been oppressed by the jurisdiction of past governments. These laws were meant to foster an assimilated and diverse community that would not discriminate. They were also intended to level the playing field until equality was actually realized and regulations were no longer necessary.
So the message delivered by the majority opinion in these two cases is clear — the Court is saying that we have achieved a level playing field and measures such as these are outdated and unnecessary.
cent of black men face incarceration in their lifetime, and some studies have shown that more black men are in prison than are enrolled in college.
Black males represent six percent of the population of the United States, but 40 percent of incarcerated persons. Thirty per-
It would take nothing further than this irrefutable empirical evidence to objectively conclude that the playing field is far from level. This simply could not happen in a society where equal opportunity existed.
Sure, you could say that we just encountered a major recession and that maybe this isn't the most convenient time to think about equality. But as our economy recover's — and the numbers indicate we are further along the road to recovery than any cable news network will admit — then this is something that has to be addressed. On top of minority groups in the population that historically have been systematically oppressed and disadvantaged, upward mobility is at an all-time low for Americans in general.
The American dream cannot be reimagined by maintaining the status quo. Generational malice is not undone quickly; halted upward mobility and an ever-increasing wealth gap serve to exacerbate this issue and only prolongs the resolution and reverses the progress we have already made.
Clay Cosby is a junior majoring in political science from Overland Park.
HEALTH
Higher drink prices mean lower STD rates
Lets abandon Donald Night.
Now before you begin
hating me, I have a good
reason to back this. Anyone
who's lived in close proximity to
others can recall the noise level
when people start stumbling
back any given Wednesday. From
the Student Ghetto to Daisy
Hill, everyone can hear students
return without their IDs, sense of
direction and sobriety. I'm not a
fun-sucker or a teetotaler. How-
ever, I stand behind higher drink
prices because they can mitigate
unfavorable behavior. Studies
show higher drink prices can lead
to less risky sexual behavior, less
binge drinking and lower STD
rates. I think a decrease in STDs
is a justifiable reason to raise
drink prices.
In her book, "Dollars and Sex," economist Marina Adshade chronicles the journey in Halifax, Nova Scotia, to lower alcohol-related rowdiness and fighting by drinking prices. The city mandated a price floor on drinks, requiring establishments to set prices above the market equilibrium. Economic findings also proposed the laws reduced risky sexual behavior, as evidenced by lower STD rates. Looking at state-by-state differences in taxes on alcohol, Harrell Chesson, Paul Harrison and William Kassler found a $1 increase in liquor rate reduces gonorrhea rates by two percent, and a tax of just 20 cents per six-pack reduces gonorrhea rates by nine percent and syphilis rates by 33 percent.
CAMPUS CHIRPS BACK
But just so I'm not bewailing us and our plight too much, there's a place that could use higher drink prices much more than Larryville — their STD rates are through the roof. Lubbock, Texas: Home of the Texas Tech Red Raiders. A high school friend of mine ran track for Kansas State. She was in Lubbock for a meet and said the student coupon booklet there had vouchers for discounted and free herpes tests. Lubbock has some of
By Anrenee Reasor areasor@kansan.com
the highest STD rates among college towns, and is even rumored to have its own strain of herpes, quaintly called "Raider Rash." They could definitely benefit from heightened alcohol prices.
You say people would just pre-game (more) if drink prices increased in bars? Well maybe prices in liquor stores should be raised as well. History proves alcohol is a luxury good, so people will always indulge in it. I'm just suggesting they indulge in moderation and not get completely smashed to the point where others have to clean up after their bodily functions.
Though I don't think Dollar Night will be disappearing anytime soon, at least placing some kind of limit would be adequate. Excessive drinking leads to deplorable decisions, poor judgment and calamitous consequences. Need I remind you all we're nearing the one year anniversary of the Boom Boom Room Couple? (Not that I expect them to still be together or anything.) Cheap drinks open the threshold to binge drinking, risky choices regarding sex and higher STD rates. Lastly, people who return from Dollar Night think it's acceptable to screech, "TM SOOOO TRASHEDDD!!!" while others are trying to sleep, study or ignore the fact they have no friends.
That's just my take. I know it will be unpopular among the student body. If Dollar Night never happened again, I can't say I'd be disappointed, only surprised. So let's raise drink prices before a new strain called the "Hawk Herp" comes into existence.
Anrenee Reasor is a junior studying economics and EALC from Thayer.
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