THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 2011
opinion
Send your FFA submissions to freeforall@kansan.com
FREE FOR ALL
Is it kosher to sext free for all?
This was possibly the best and most dangerous idea the FFA has ever had.
Before I graduate I hope to see a sing off/rumble between two of the frat packs. West Side Story style.
My advice for a Selby reaction in the Phog: Don't cheer. Don't boo. Don't. Do. Anything.
I really wish I had DVR, waking up at 6 to watch "Boy Meets World" is starting to get to me.
FEEEEEEEEEEENYYYYYY!!!!
Oh, you'll know when I have swamp ass.
Dibs on being the first one to use the texting free for all Editor's Note. You were actually number 45. Nice try, though.
I need to start dressing sluttier to compete with these sorority girls.
Technical difficulties when trying to submit to the Free For All are THE WORST.
I don't know about you guys, but I'm excited for Brownback to cut music, art and equal rights. True American fundamentalism there.
Some please tell KU to get a Nike contract ... so we can at least look good while getting smashed in football.
Freshman, stop standing in front of every door on campus, I'm done squeezing between your bag and your friends padded bra.
Pay attention freshman: the park and ride DOES NOT STOP ON DAISY HILL UNTIL 6 P.M.!!! Get it together.
I'm recently joined the legendary extravagant gentlemen in Tijuana. It's also called winning at life with tequila.
That awkward moment when you were blasting CATS only to realize your headphones weren't completely plugged in. On a crowded bus.
The awkward moment when u see a dude's Chinese tattoo in a totally wrong writing... ASK YOUR CHINESE DUES TO LOOK AT IT BEFORE GETTING IT!
You, with the camel toe. Your shorts are too small. Everyday. That's concerning.
TEXT IN FREE FOR ALLS
I don't know what people are talking about with changes to the underground. Then again I have severe ADHD.
KU please, please get Diet Dr Peper on campus!
I am genuinely sorry for fratting.
Also, in reading the FFA (almost daily) I have realized how unintelligent the majority of outpopulous is, USA!
College is like communism. Professors pretend to teach, and we pretend to learn.
INTERNATIONAL
Just talked about legalizing incest in class, and no one had a problem, cocaine on the other hand.
Supporting Libya's new leader
"Does John Boehner still believe U.S. military operations in Libya are illegal?" tweedt ThinkProgress, an American political blog, as if the apparent rebel victory somehow resolved bipartisan concerns over the constitutionality of the military campaign, which was not authorized by Congress.
When Libya's rebels rolled into Tripoli, supporters of the NATO-led operation to oust Moammar Gadhafi's regime claimed vindication.
President Barack Obama signed on in March to French-led efforts to launch airstrikes against Gadhafira regime targets. The ostensible purpose was to avert, in Obama's words, "brutal repression and a looming humanitarian crisis." Believing the national attitude that there must be an American solution to any problem in the world, the president vigorously defended
human rights of Libyans.
It's hard to doubt Obama's good intentions. Libya never supplied much oil to the U.S., and oil production plummeted after the start of airstrikes, so most serious observers won't think Libya was a war for cheaper oil. Although our culture relishes the search for ulterior motives, it's undeniable that the president surrounded himself with advisors like Samantha Power and U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice who are committed to
liberal humanitarianism in foreign policy.
Good intentions, alas, do not exempt people from the consequences of their decisions. It rapidly became clear that the West was committed to far more than an end to hostilities. Nothing less than Gadhaf's removal from power would suffice. This led Obama to throw in the U.S. lot with the rebels' National Transitional Council (NTC).
Based in eastern Libya, the NTC's leaders purported to speak for the diverse rebel movement, which encompassed easterners, western tribesmen, and various political dissidents, NTC officials talked an impressive game about bringing democratic governance to Libya, but disturbing questions remained about whether a rebel victory would secure the human rights NATO professed to care so
much about.
The warning signs were plentiful. When protestors first took to the streets of Benghazi, Libya, in February, many sought to rally opposition to Gadhafi with the laughable claim that he was Jewish. Moreover, eastern Libya, the rebels' stronghold, provided many of the foreign fighters who had joined the insurgency against U.S. forces in Iraq. Feuding factions within the rebel movement came to the fore last month with the killing of Gen. Abdul Fattah Younes at the hands of fellow rebels.
misrule by Gadhafa, does such indiscriminate violence indicate that the new leaders will be any more respectful of pluralism and human rights?
In an especially harrowing episode last week, rebel forces slaughtered sub-Saharan Africans because the Gadhafi regime had often employed these poor black men as servants and mercenaries. While it's important to remember the 42 years of authoritarian
During the past five decades, Gadhafi's inhumanity became all too apparent. But does it serve the U.S. national interest to prop up a new set of rulers whose chief claim to democratic fame is that they hated the old despot?
Far from justifying military operations in Libya, the rebel victory challenges the decision to back a rebell movement whose commitment to democracy is suspect at best.
ECONOMICS
Luke Brinker is a senior from Topeka majoring in history. Follow him on Twitter @LukeBrinker.
US credit downgrade may inspire a solution
Id be willing to bet most people have not been paying attention to politics this summer. Why would you? What happens in Washington is unlikely to affect the sunshine on the deck of your apartment complex's pool.
But it was pretty impossible to avoid hearing about the debt ceiling and the country's credit rating.
The whole thing can be confusing but think of the debt ceiling as the limit on the country's credit card. It's an arbitrary number determined by Congress that represents the amount the country can go into debt.
This number has been raised frequently in the past, and the United States has always been able to pay it off. Soon, however, if Congress keeps raising that number, it may not be able to pay that off, sending the country further into debt.
Just like people, every country also has a credit rating (haven't you seen those commercials)? This number determines whether countries can take out loans, and the interest they pay on them. Outside firms determine these ratings. The United States has always been rated the highest rating: AAA.
After a long political battle
this summer, Congress passed the largest debt reduction bill in our country's history in a bipartisan compromise.
Truth is, it still isn't enough.
That's why one of the credit firms,
Standard & Poor, downgraded the US to an AA+ rating (An AA+ rating is like the shorter,
balding guy in the hockey mask in those commercials, which is not good). There was panic that this would send us further into a recession. It hasn't yet.
In fact, I think that the downgrade is actually a good thing.
This country is almost broke,
and the government won't be able to pay its bills if it continues spending more than it takes in. This credit downgrade has served as a wake-up call, and now politicians from both sides of the aisle are looking to cut spending
firm is unlikely to hurt us in the short term, but it might light enough of a fire under Washington politicians to do something before the other firms downgrade us as well. America needs to stop our out-of-control spending to get us back to that AAA rating, and maybe the downgrade is just what we need to make that happen.
One downgrade from one
Now you may be asking yourself "Why should I care? What does it have to do with me?" Well, like the electric bill, the United States' debt can't go unpaid too long. Eventually someone will have to pay for it plus interest, and it is likely to be our generation. Taxes will be raised on us to pay those bills off, and programs like Medicare and Social Security, which we are already paying into directly from our paychecks, will be sacrificed in order to pay those bills off. If the credit downgrade is what we need to prevent this from happening, then it truly is a blessing in disguise.
Alex Boyer is a senior in political science and journalism from Lawrence. Follow him on Twitter @AlexBoyer90
CAMPUS CHIRPS BACK
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Does Texas A&M really matter to the Big 12?
hannzbanans
@UDK_Opinion I can't wait to laugh at them being in the bottom tier of the SEC.
simonkindel3
@UUK_Opinion The only school that can really ensure the future of the big 12 is Texas... I'm sorry to say,but they will never go to the SEC.
@UOK_ Opinion now! Good ridance. If they can't stand to lose then we don't need them Lets bring in some real teams.
the_colby_zone
COLLEGE
What is the value of your education?
As another semester begins, we students try to cut back on the nights spent at the bars and correct our sleeping schedules so we are able to wake up before noon
Each fall, I have the same crippling fear. I fear I will not meet the expectations I set for myself. Every year I begin by telling myself that this year will be different and I will go beyond what my professors expect of me, but it always falls apart about three weeks into the semester when I fall behind on reading assignments and deadlines.
Considering that this is my senior year, it's inevitable that this season of my life is coming to an end. This is my last chance to go above and beyond the call of duty. I no longer want to be hitting the print button at 5 a.m. on the day the assignment is due.
Friedrich Nietzsche, in his book "Twilight of the Idols", saw education deteriorating because there were too many students who attended it for job training and stated it lacked intellect; furthermore, higher education was turning students into machines, and not critical thinkers.
College has gone from receiving a higher education to a really expensive and time-consuming
Brownback's plan to raise the academic rankings and to make the University more profitable may be a somewhat beneficial. However, it is not what is best for higher education as a whole.
To return to my earlier point, no matter what program or classes you are enrolled in for this fall semester, attempt to go that extra mile to truly gain knowledge. That said, I just I hope I can have the discipline to turn off Netflix and to instead open a book.
Moffitt is a senior in English and philosophy from Wichita.
KANSAN.COM WEEKLY POLL
Recently, Gov. Sam Brownback said that for the state's universities to receive higher rankings, they must focus on specific programs that are more profitable, while possibly cutting less-attended majors. This is not only a threat to students but it is also a threat to higher education. To focus on only a few focal, but arguably more profitable, programs disregards the whole point of education.
trade school. The point is that colleges and universities were institutions founded on the principle of gaining knowledge, not just learning one specific trade in order to get a better paying job. I would be lying if I said I wasn't here for the prospect of one day receiving a decent income from having a piece of paper that says I am educated, but also I expect to be a better critical thinker and to be a better person from that knowledge as well.
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