PAGE 5A
Macs are not shitty, they are the shit.
I wonder how many people will dress as Steve Jobs for Halloween. Turtle necks anyone?
Send your FFA submissions to freeforall@kansan.com
FREE FOR ALL
To the person who suggested guys should wear leggings next time they dress as girls to events. CHALLENGE ACCEPTED.
You know you're a fitness nut when you use the rec as an excuse not to go out and party.
The only way to make Wescoe Hall look good would be to photoshop it out of a picture.
MONDAY, OCTOBER 17,2011
You know your football team is bad when the front page of the newspaper is the punter.
Today's Free For All sucked! I'm telling you put my stuff in there and you shall succeed!
Editor's Note: Did it work? I think not.
Can I just say that motion sensor lighting in bathrooms makes no sense? It's the times you sit the longest that you need the light the most.
It's all about perspective. The sinking of the Titanic was a miracle for the lobsters in the ship's kitchen.
I tried to avoid it at all costs, but I couldn't any longer. I took a crap at a bar
If I have to see one more FFA submission about Harry Potter, I will find you and personally smash all of your DVDs.
Awesome, the seat I'm sitting in says,
"I jacked off here."
As if Bill Self weren't attractive enough to begin with, he makes his Late Night entrance on a motorcycle. So sexy.
The awkward moment when you're the only person throwing newspaper confetti at Late Night.
There is a guy in a Kansas Quidditch uniform ahead of me in line! I feel like I'm in the presence of a celebrity!
"My kidney hates me right now." She meant her liver, but it was a nice try.
Overheard some OU fans comment on how people in town were so nice. Keeping it classy.
Thank you KU football. You made me waste money on tickets again.
BECAUSE THAT'S YOUR TEAM.
We're playing the number one team in the nation, and we're down by TEN at halftime. If I hear one more sorority girl say, "Why are we staying if we're losing?" I might hit someone. YOU STAY
KU's offense: RRPP (run, run, pass,
punt.)
To all the 'fans' who are leaving the football game early, don't call yourself jayhawks. You make me sick.
Sporting KC -- best football in Kansas.
Romney has history on his side in GOP race
POLITICS
Last week, I wrote that tea party conservatives surely couldn't stomach the idea of wishy-washy former Gov. Mitt Romney (R-Mass.) as the GOP presidential nominee in 2012.
After watching establishment Republicans lose or withdraw from Senate primaries in Alaska, Nevada, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, and Pennsylvania amid the tea party wave of 2010, it seemed perfectly plausible, even probable, that Republicans would coalesce around a hard-line conservative presidential nominee.
Conservatives still aren't sold on Romney. Look no further than the rise in the polls of businessman Herman Cain – or the previous polling successes of real estate developer and TV host Donald Trump, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), and Gov. Rick Perry (R-Texas) – and it becomes clear that hard-core conservatives are still seeking a right-wing alternative. The problem is that they have yet to settle on one - hence the conventional wisdom that Romney is the inevitable nominee.
An establishment triumph in the GOP nomination contest would fit the historical pattern. Although the tea party insurgents who mounted congressional bids last year demonstrated the power of rank-and-file conservatives' ballots, the presidential nomination is a completely different ballgame. In the past 15 presidential elections, Republicans have nominated candidates favored
by members of the party elite 12 times: 1952 (Eisenhower), 1956 (Ike, again), 1960 (Nixon), 1968 (Tricky Dick again), 1972 (Nixon), 1976 (Ford), 1988 (George H.W. Bush), 1992 (Bush), 1996 (Dole), 2000 (George W. Bush), 2004 (Bush), and 2008 (McCain).
In each of those elections except 1956, candidates who were more conservative ran against the eventual nominee and lost. In 1964, conservatives scored a victory with the nomination of Sen. Barry Goldwater (R-Ariz.), but President Lyndon B. Johnson decimated Goldwater in the general election. In 1980, former Gov. Ronald Reagan (R-Calif.) defeated establishment types like his eventual running mate George H.W. Bush – and went on to win the general election. Whether his re-namination in 1984 constitutes a conservative win is a matter of dispute. By that point, Reagan had
moderated his foreign policy positions vis-a-vis the Soviet Union, leading movement conservatives like Howard Phillips to call (to no avail) for a conservative primary challenge.
What lessons can we draw from the propensity of the GOP to put forth establishment nominees? Simply put, Republicans want to win. Goldwater's disastrous performance in 1964 underscored the dangers of an extremist nominee, and while Reagan trounced President Jimmy Carter in the electoral college in 1980, he barely won 50 percent of the popular vote. (An independent candidate, John B. Anderson, won seven percent that year.) Ordinary people vote in primaries and caucuses, but high-level fundraisers and contributors can bolster candidates seen as more electable through the sheer power of money.
This coming year, those GOP donors will surely take note of
what happened to tea party candidates in states like Nevada, Colorado, and Delaware last year. Against unpopular or weak Democratic candidates, the tea partiers blew the Republicans' chances of recapturing control of the Senate. The moderate alternatives may not have voted the conservative line 100 percent of the time, but would Republicans really have preferred a Democratic senator instead?
Given the GOP's animus to toward President Barack Obama, party apparatchiks and moneymen will want to nominate a candidate with the best chance of defeating the president in 2012. While a poor economy could make Obama vulnerable against any nominee, the safest bet is still Romney.
Luke Brinker is a senior from Topeka majoring in history. Follow him on Twitter @LukeBrinker
ACTIVISM
Awareness is OK but action is better
Every time I hear the word "awareness," I cringe. Today, you can literally take the word "awareness" and add it to any illness, tragedy, or social situation - breast cancer awareness, autism awareness, domestic violence awareness, and — every college campus' favorite — hazing awareness.
Before I get into this, I'm not questioning the intentions of these organizations. There is nothing wrong with raising money for a good cause. But there is a point where using awareness to raise money becomes a way for us to soothe our consciences more than it actually helps people.
During October, which is breast cancer awareness month, a series of 5k runs take place, tables with posters urging us to fight for "the cure" are set up, people with megaphones shout along Wescoe Beach for donations, and pink ribbons are handed out like hot cakes.
We need to call this what it is – raising money, not awareness. Giving money, unlike being truly aware, is impersonal and can be done without emotional investment. It's useful and needed but doesn't even come close to giving us an understanding of cancer.
Breast cancer and I became acquainted a few years ago when a close family member of mine was diagnosed with it. Watching a loved one go through treatment and watching her body slowly emaciate because of chemotherapy and radiation gave me a stark view of human mortality. (She survived, and I have never met a stronger, more beautiful, or more selfless person).
So when I see the activities of breast cancer awareness month,
I question the actual "awareness" people have, because cancer isn't pink, uplifting, or curable. Cancer sucks.
So wouldn't it be more meaningful, instead of raising awareness by asking for money, to raise awareness by helping those who suffer? Take the efforts you would use towards raising awareness and make a meal for a cancer patient, babysit their children, help clean their house, or just sit and talk to them. Let those who suffer know that their lives always have and always will matter.
I've been using the example of breast cancer, but this idea can be applied to any social issue. Want to be aware of homelessness or poverty? Go serve at a homeless shelter. Know someone who has an illness? Go help them. Don't put five dollars in a jar and think you've done your duty to society.
Our version of awareness has become a wall of altruism we hide behind so that we don't have to face the blunt reality of life. We let things like cancer, homelessness, AIDS win when we forget the suffering individuals. A community that is socially aware is made up of individuals doing meaningful acts for other individuals, not of individuals wearing shirts that say "save the ta-ta's."
Knutsen is a sophomore in classics from Overland Park.
Restricting breast exams and prostate exams saves big money on healthcare...
... plus lowering life expectancy keeps Social Security solvent!
SYNERGY AT THE PREVENTIVE SERVICES TASK FORCE
NICHOLAS SAMBALUK
ENTERTAINMENT
TV: a more effective escape
I hate movies. That might sound crazy to hear from someone who is supposed to write about movies and television for this newspaper, but it's true. While I was acting like I was studying for midterms in the library, I discussed with a friend of mine why we hate them. She told me she hates movies because she doesn't like to commit that much time to go see one. I agreed with ner, but for some reason I was still able to commit three hours of that day to watching "Community" reruns.
Once I realized that I spent more time watching television before I went to the library that day than I would have spent seeing a movie, it made a lot more sense. I don't hate movies because they take time out of my day. I hate movies because they are too short.
The reason we watch movies and television is to forget our boring lives and be immersed in a story. We live vicariously through characters on the screen. Batman does some awesome things that I will never accomplish because I'm a 5-foot-6 dweeb that is not nearly as handsome as Christian Bale. So when I go to the theater, I use Christian
Bale's Batman (or whatever character I'm watching) to forget how lame my life happens to be. I like to think that I am the hero of the story, and not just a boring kid from Kansas. Television does the same thing, but there is something different.
I recently saw the film "Moneyball" and loved the whole thing. At one point in my life, I actually wanted to be a general manager in MLB. So I lived through Brad Pitt as he portrayed Bill Beane and forgot that I had to write this column, study for Italian, and read a bunch of boring literature for English. I was able to live as Billy Beane and forget my life as Dylan Lysen. The only problem was that it only lasted two hours. The story lived and died within two hours. Television doesn't do that.
In television, a story is told
throughout a series of episodes. The story can evolve throughout time and has many different resolutions compared to a movie that has one central theme and one resolution. This is why I love television. I live my life through the characters, but that doesn't end in two hours. I'm allowed to live through these characters through a whole season, which last from August to May (and then for more seasons after that, if you're lucky). When I watch "Community," I like to think that I'm a part of their study group, and dealing with all the same sheenanigans they go through. So when I'm in the library (not studying), I'm really just acting like I'm in the show "Community."
Television is a lot more like real life than movies. Television series can be cancelled out of nowhere, they can die just like we can. Movies live and die in the same day. Television series have more time to grow and take on an identity. Just like I do as a person.
Lysen is a Junior from Andover in journalism.
HOW TO SUBMIT A LETTER TO THE EDITOR
osborn 2009
Send letters to kansanopdesk@gmail.com.
Write LETTER TO THE EDITOR in the e-mail subject line.
LETTER GUIDELINES
Length: 300 words
The submission should include the author's name, grade and hometown.Find our full letter to the editor policy online at kansas.com/cletters.
Kelly Strode, editor
864-810-490 or xtrade@ansan.com
Joel Peterson, managing editor
864-810-490 or jefferson@ansan.com
Jonathan Shorman, managing editor
864-810-490 or jphorman@ansan.com
Kelly Stroda, editor
864-4810 or kstroda@kansan.com
Clayton Ashley, managing editor 864-4810 or cashley@kansan.com
osborn_2009
@UOK_Opionn they don't deserve to even be in a conference
Mandy Matney, opinion editor
864-4924 or mmatoneykansan.com
CONTACT US
Stephanie Green, sales manager 864-4477 or sgreen@kansan.com
Ikaas Shanker, editorial editor
644-4924 or vshanker@kansan.com
Garrett Lent, business manager
---
Malcolm Gibson, general manager and news adviser
864-7667 or mgibson@kansan.com
Jon Schitt, sales and marketing adviser
864-7666 or jschitt@kansan.com
THE EDITORIAL BOARD
Members of the Kansan Editorial Board are Kelly Stroda, Joel Peterson, Jonathan Shorman, Vikas Shanker, Mandy Matney and Steffen Penn.