WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2011
PAGE 5
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAS
FREE FOR ALL
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opinion
How do I tell my classmate that he looks and talks like the comic book guy from Simpsons without hurting his feelings?
While I was walking near memorial stadium, I was pleasantly surprised when I heard the theme from "The Dark Knight" blasting at full volume out of the stadium sound system. Whoever is in charge of choosing the music to skyway the system, you are my new hero
system , you are my new hero
RIP Preston Scheible
The odd moment when you come back from fall break and find a giant duck stuffed animal in your room.
"I don't know if you said 'cake' or 'keg.' Either way, I'm down."
I have like three redneck weekends a year. This was one of them.
NASCAR
The awkward moment when you go back into the class you just ditched after signing the attendance to get the jacket you left behind.
Only way I'm making it through Saturday's game is if I start drinking now. Bottoms up.
At least we scored more points than the University of Texas did this weekend.
That awkward moment when your TA walks in the bathroom and sees you checking out your boobs.
My foreign roommate just discovered Fruit Loops. Now she knows why all the American kids have ADHD.
Why doesn't Applebees serve apple juice??
Who shits in a bar?
Yesterday my ex girlfriend said she didn't know what FFA meant ... We broke up yesterday.
Sorority life is like alcoholic girl scouts. Plus douchebags in polos.
The awkward moment when u sleep with a zombie chick then see her without makeup and realize she looked better as a zombie. FML.
Knowing how to fold a newspaper just perfectly to be able to read it in 30 mph winds is truly a Kansas skill.
I learned one thing this weekend.
Don't go to church drunk!
The Big 12 Conference scored a major victory Monday when Texas Christian University accepted an invitation to join the conference.
For being so gross, Keystone has great commercials.
Texas Christian fits Big 12 conference well
The addition of TCU effectively replaces departing Texas A&M University, which will officially leave for the Southeastern Conference next summer.
Nothing says "I want a stalker" like Foursquare.
Recently, TCU has had major success in football and baseball. As a member of the now defunct Southwest Conference, it has a rich basketball history against all the Big 12 Oklahoma and Texas universities.
Academically, TCU compares similarly to the three other Big 12 Texas institutions. It has accreditation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools with the highest degree standing at Level VI. It's ranked higher than University of Kansas in the latest US News & World Report and Forbes college rankings. And despite its small enrollment of less than 10,000 students, TCU sports an endowment of $1.2 billion compared to KU Endowment's $1.65 billion.
Email us your comments at freeforall@kansan.com or call us at (785) 864-0852. And don't worry, your comments will always stay anonymous.
EDITORIAL
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TO FREE FOR ALL?
TCU is close to other Big 12 universities, keeping the strength of community in the conference
TCU simply fits the Big 12.
We commend Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little for her strong endorsement of TCU.
In a news release statement last
The University and Missouri's Border Showdown and rich traditions will be in jeopardy if Missouri leaves, but old traditions will be reborn if the Big 12 represents what it once was, the joining of two storied conferences.
Not only did this endorsement solidify the University's commitment to the Big 12 stability, it also projected Gray-Little as a leader in higher education politics.
Thursday, Gray-Little cited the strong alumni base and recruiting ties to the Dallas-Ft. Worth area as support for TCU as a positive addition for student athletes and fans.
But although the Big 12 found its tenth member, the University of Missouri is considering leaving. Commissioner Chuck Neinas and institution presidents and chancellors need to continue looking at options to expand the conference.
- Vikaas Shanker for the Kansan Editorial Board
TCU's addition sets a precedent for other former Southwest Conference institutions University of Houston and Rice University. These are options the Big 12 should seriously consider to expand the conference whether Missouri stays or leaves.
WHAT ISSUES SHOULD WE TAKE A STAND ON THIS SEMESTER?
Send your thoughts to vshanker@ kansan.com to let the Editorial Board know.
POLITICS
Romney full of flips
By Luke Brinker
lbrinker@kansan.com
One should always be wary of unsolicited political advice from the other side of the aisle, but I can't help asking conservatives: Are you really going to let Mitt Romney walk away with the Republican nomination?
There's a reason most liberals would select Romney, if the longshot former Gov. Jon Huntsman (R-Utah) weren't an option, as the candidate they'd most prefer the Republicans nominate. It isn't because lefties think President Barack Obama would have an easy time defeating Romney. It's far from it, actually. Rather, amid a torpid economic climate, Obama's odds of re-election are even at best, and the last thing liberals and progressives want to see is a true-believing conservative like Gov. Rick Perry (R-Texas) ascend to the nation's highest office.
Romney, unlike Perry or current tea party flame Herman Cain, is simply not a principled conservative.
Romney's history of policy U-turns is well documented. He sought office in Massachusetts as a middle-of-the-road Republican who supported abortion rights, embryonic stem cell research, gay rights, gun control, government regulation of
carbon dioxide emissions, and opposed the economic record of President Ronald Reagan. In fact, in his un-
Senate in 1994, Romney made a point of noting that he wasn't even a Republican during the presidency of Reagan, practically a conservative saint. And while Romney may couch his defense of Massachusetts' health care program in the conservative language of states' rights, it was the moderate Romney - not the conservative opponent of government intervention - who actually signed the law.
Romney first reversed his positions in favor of abortion rights and stem cell research. He said that after listening to a Harvard scientist's cavalier description of the science behind stem cell research, he decided that our culture had become insensitive to life. A pro-lifer was thus born. This story would be a bit more believable if Romney's flip-flop on "right to life" issues didn't coincide with his changing positions on gays in the military, gun control, climate change, and the infallibility of Reagan. Of course, all of these U-turns occurred ahead of Romney's 2008 bid for the White House, when he needed conservative primary voters.
But Romney's flip-flopping
history pre-dates 2008. He ran against Ted Kennedy in 1994 as an ardent pro-choicer. After moving to conservative Utah to run the Winter Olympics, Romney abandoned his pro-choice stance, thinking he might want to run for office there. But after returning to Massachusetts in time for a successful 2002 gubernatorial race, he was once again promising not to waver in defending a woman's right to choose.
Given that he consistently tailors his positions according to which office he's seeking, it's obvious that Romney's conservatism in nothing more than a ploy to win the GOP nomination. Come general election time, he'll have a more moderate electorate to appeal to, and just as he's previously thrown liberals under the bus to serve his electoral ends, he'll do the same thing to conservatives if he thinks the right-to-lifers and gay-baiters are standing in the way of his White House hopes.
If Romney is elected president, it's a virtual certainty that conservatives will find him a disappointment. They won't be able to say that the writing wasn't on the wall.
Luke Brinker is a senior from Topeka majoring in history. Follow him on Twitter @ LukeBrinker
CAMPUS CHIRPS BACK
What did you miss about Lawrence when you were gone on fall break?
Follow us on Twitter @UDK_Opinion.
Tweet us your opinions, and we just might publish them.
Zkyleswift15
@UDK_Opinion Chipotle and Beak 'em Bucks. Those two are a 1, 2 punch.
Zkyleswift15
bafast
batast @UOK_Opinion easy, the people, I can only take so much small town south central Kansas.
Harrison_Drake
@UDK Opinion don't wear any clothing that has the word "cargo" in it.
LIFESTYLE
Recycling needed; plus,it's not hard
By Rachel Schwartz editor@kansan.com
There are a lot of different pet peeves out there. Some people can't stand it when others bite their nails or crack their knuckles (I do both). Others get annoyed when people talk and chew at the same time (again, guilty). My pet peeve is a little different: I can't stand it when people don't recycle.
Around campus, I constantly see people throwing plastic water bottles and Coke cans in the garbage. Even at my apartment and other people's apartments, my roommates and friends throw away cereal boxes and other easy-to-recycle items. Yes, I have been known to fish out boxes from the trash to recycle. I don't go as far as taking boxes out of the dumpster but I do think about it — don't get me wrong.
I just wish people would recycle their own stuff. It's really not that hard. Put those items in a box or bag and take them to Wal-Mart or another recycling center, including the 12th and Haskell Recycle Center and Lonnie's Recycling, 501 Maple St. Some of those places even sort your recyclables for you.
On campus, however, it's a different story. There aren't that many recycling bins around. And they aren't usually even by the trash bins, which is really annoying. Sometimes it's just easier to throw away your can instead of finding a place to recycle it. Believe me, I know that.
I'm glad there are places to recycle on campus, but I think they should place them in more visible, convenient locations. There should be a recycling bin right next to each major trashcan. Or maybe even by the door when you're walking out of the Union or Underground. Then, perhaps, people would be more motivated to recycle.
The average American throws away as much as 50 tons of trash each year.
A total of one ton of recycled paper saves 17 trees and creates five more jobs for people than virgin wood pulp paper.
If you recycle just one glass jar that is enough energy to light a 100-watt light bulb for four hours.
Less than half of the 100 million steel cans and 200 million aluminum cans used each day by Americans are recycled.
Even then, I'm not that sure. How about I hit you with some disturbing statistics then? According to the Annenberg Foundation, the average American throws away about 4.6 pounds of "trash" each day. That is disgusting. The sad part is that about 70 percent of this could be recycled or reused. Seriously, people, just recycle.
RECYCLING REALITY
Forty percent less energy is used when glass products are recycled as opposed to when glass is made from new materials.
If you're not sure where or what to recycle, the City of Lawrence website has a pretty extensive list of information to answer those questions. With the amount of time I know most of you spend on the Internet, much less the computer, it's pretty each to just look that up. At least that's a step in the right direction.
Schwartz is a senior in journalism from Leawood.
All plastics are recyclable. But Americans only recycle 5 percent of all glass products.
Of all of the garbage produced in the U.S., only about 10 percent of it is recycled.
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THE EDITORIAL BOARD
Members of the Nannah Editorial Board are Kelly Stroda, Jee Pettterson, Jonathan Shoma, Vikaas Shanker, Mandy Matney and Stefanie Penn.