OPINION
You read this daily,so you might as well work for it
THE UNIVERSITY DARY KANSAN
The University Dale Kansan is now hiring for columnists, editorial board writers, editorial cartoonists and open page designers for the spring semester.
Columnists: Write a bi-wet
Editorial board writers: Write editors with original research and local reporting that represent the voice of The Kansan
Editorial cartoonists: Create art and grape opinion page
See full job descriptions and required info and apply online at jobs.ku.edu. Deadline is tonight at midnight.
Designer: Design the opinion page daily
Have a question? Call (785) 864-4810 or e-mail opinion@kansan.com
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
I am writing regarding the article "Dallas-based Muslim charity convicted of aiding Hamas" published on Nov. 25.
Big difference between Islam and terrorism
I understand The University Daily Kansan did not write this article. It received it from the Associated Press wire service.
I understand that The Kansan is meant to keep the students aware of what is happening nationwide. I support that; however, I hope when The Kansan puts articles that relate to some groups on campus, I hope The Kansan would write the article more precisely or at least make the headline more appropriate that doesn't sort of attack a certain group on campus.
The Dallas Muslim charity convicted in supporting Hamas might be true (according to Associated Press), but the way the headline is written in the University's newspaper might
actually increase the stereotype that Islam equals terrorism.
As a member of the Muslim Student Association here at KU, we spend lots of effort to clarify that Muslims and terrorists are not the same. We make events and bring speakers on campus, and then such an article comes and ruins everything the Muslim Student Association did
I am not against putting this or such articles in the paper, but please when writing the headline of the story,please put it in an appropriate way that won't harm any student group on campus.
I am with you and with everybody. We are all against terrorism. But I would clarify that terrorism does not come from any ethnicity or religion because terrorism is not supported by any religion, culture or belief.
Ibrahim Alanqar is a sophomore from Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
HOW TO SUBMIT A LETTER TO THE EDITOR
The submission should include the author's name, grade and hometown.
LETTER GUIDELINES
Send letters to opinionokansan.com
Write LETTER TO THE EDITOR in the e-mail subject line.
Find the full letter to the editor policy online at kansan.com/letters.
Length: 300 words
CONTACT US
Matt Erickson, editor
864-4810 or merickson@kansan.com
Matt Erickson, editor
Dani Hurst, managing editor 864-4810 or dhurst@kansan.com
Mark Dent, managing editor
864-4810 or mdent@kansan.com
Keisey Hayes, managing editor 864-4810 or khayes@kansan.com
Lauren Keith, opinion editor
864-4924 or lkeith@kansan.com
Jordan Herrmann, business manager
864-4358 or jrherrmann@kansan.com
Patrick De Oliveira, associate opinion editor 864-4924 or pdeoliveira@kansan.com
Toni Bergquist, sales manager
964-4477 or tbergquist@kansan.com
Toni Bergquist, sales manager 964.4473 or the telephone
Malcolm Gibson, general manager and news adviser
864-7661 or maljibson@kansan.com
THE EDITORIAL BOARD Members of the Kansan Editorial Board are Alex Doherty, Jenny Harra, Lauren Katie, Patrick de Olivaire, Ray Seebach and Ian Stanford.
Jon Schitt, sales and marketing adviser 864-7666 or jschitt@kenyon.com
THE EDITORIAL BOARD
FROM THE DRAWING BOARD
4.
YOUNG IN PANAMA @ FLICKR.COM
NICHOLAS SAMBALUK
What I don't get about vegetarians
Save the environment — stop eating so much of it!
You know who I'm talking about. Thick, black-lensed glasses, ironic yet socially aware T-shirts, Netflix queue a veritable discography of African poverty-related documentaries and teeth like miniature lumberjacks, that chomp away at chlorophyll, destroying millions of Mother Nature's solar energy panels, all to sate their terrible hunger.
The vegetarians.
Vegetarianism, or "recreational anemia," is one of the leading behavior-modifying ethical beliefs, meaning that its adherents practice what they preach. As a Catholic, I find this troubling.
Wemustdestroyit. Vegetarianism presents a challenge to the very nature of man. We've struggled and clawed and basically devoured our way up to the top of the food chain. We have an urge to discover life on distant planets and then eat that too. The pursuit of edibility is what drives mankind, no matter the cost or the effect.
To illustrate, draw the circle of life, like the one from "The Lion King" where Simba's father tries to explain why Simba will eventually devour the animated entrails of his best friends, Timon and Pumbaa.
Now draw a big, gaping mouth in the middle of it. That is mankind, devouring its way through life, consuming animal, vegetable and mineral alike.
But not vegetarians. No, they insist on limiting their dietary drive to vegetable matter, for ethical reasons. Vegetables! Vegetables are just fruit that didn't try hard enough, fruit from the bad side of the tracks, toughened by life and social circumstance into surely imitations of edibility. Cucumbers are bananas with a jailhouse tattoo.
Join the Dark Side, vegetarians.
Join us, or if Earth is ever invaded by giant beets, I will tell the Beetonians of the terrible deeds you have committed against their kin.
Yuck. I had to stick in a plug of jerky chew just get myself through this column. I'm a third degree Carnivoran, which means I eat things that have eaten other things that eat things. Like if a lion ate a gazelle and was then eaten by a whale, I could eat that whale. Or if you went cow to wolf to supercow, I could make a supercow hamburger.
"Oh, yum, this one tastes like chewy water! Oh, try this one, it tastes like crispy water! And have you tried that musky water one over here . . . Delicious!"
"But vegetarians are such nice.
So, like every great movie villain, I will offer vegetarians a choice. We are not so different. If one takes circles seriously, then it follows that plants thrive on decomposing animals and each carrot has devoured a thousand little rabbit corpses.
caring people!" Oh, I don't dispute that. Some of my best token friends are vegetarians. But, remember, it is exactly because vegetarians are such nice people that their behavior-modifying ethical beliefs are such a threat. The disgusting sincerity of vegetarians presents a direct challenge to the moral hypocrisy that we normal people dear.
How will it be possible to believe in things if we must also then do those things with our hands and mouths? How can we be good people in our minds if must also be them with our bodies?
Reichert is an Oberlin graduate student in law.
Where can we actually make the budget cuts?
Over the past few years, the state legislature has spent $300 million constructing an underground parking garage at the capitol building in Topeka as part of a renovation project. I certainly don't want my esteemed state representatives to have to walk to work in the rain, but such spending is as a perverse misappropriation of taxpayer money — money that should be spent on services for the disabled and subsidies for higher education.
Researchers estimate that Kansas will suffer a $141 million budget shortfall at the end of the 2009 fiscal year. Kansas is required by its constitution to keep a balanced budget, which means a fall in tax revenue means a commensurate cut in spending. The deficit is projected to top $1 billion in 2010.
Now the state government faces a severe budget shortfall. Kansas may not yet be requesting a bailout from the federal government, as California recently has, but the fiscal situation looks downright dismal, and students will no doubt suffer the consequences.
Gov. Kathleen Sebelius told state agencies to expect a 3 percent cut in funding this fiscal year and an additional 4 percent next year. In total, the state predicts it will reduce funding to higher education by a total of $114.4 million, a figure that will no doubt be revised.
The lion's share of the state budget is spent on K-12 education, which the governor cannot cut without risking litigation. Kansas' constitution guarantees adequate provision of public education. Cuts must come from somewhere else.
The Kansas Board of Regents has been lobbying to mitigate the effects of the budget shortfall on state universities. Chairwoman Donna Shank said that the cuts
"would profoundly stunt the progress the system has made toward meeting the state's workforce and economic development needs." Shank appeals to the logic underlying the government subsidization of higher education, which not only benefits the students who receive it, but also the community where they will go on to live and work.
Students cannot take taxpayer support for granted. Funding will be cut for the deferred maintenance projects on university campuses.
We'll have to make do with exploding pipes and crumbling sidewalks. Already, last summer, the KU Medical Center declared a 90-day moratorium on hiring new staff, and spending cuts will no doubt impact the number and quality of faculty here in Lawrence, as well. Chancellor Robert Hemenway has hinted that a hike in tuition might be necessary.
Thompson is a Topeka senior in economics and political science.
To contribute to Free for All, visit Kansan.com or call 785-864-0500.
Hey Battenfeld, you didn't catch us, and you still have all of the toilet paper to clean up.
Whoever quoted "The Streets" is my hero
---
I hate things in the Free for All addressed to Free for All.
To potential Poke-dater: Recognize me by my yellow crafty sidekick who I keep to charge my cell phone.
---
Maybe you should tell your design team to answer e-mail and maybe you would get more comics. And maybe you shouldn't insult them because that's not how it should work.
A Chevy truck with a Harley-
Davidson sticker and a Ron
Paul bumper sticker. Seems
kind of odd to me.
---
---
---
You need to transfer to Fort Hays State to play basketball because you're garbage.
P. S. I love you
I've asked you nicely before, Free for All, to be a better advocate for oppressed people.
Please re-think the cultural norm of approaching people on the street that you've never met. Unless they are bleeding in the street and obviously require medical attention, please give them the freedom and peace of mind.
In my opinion, turkey tastes really good.
My friends wants to go to this bar with all these assholes. What should I tell him? I don't know how to break it to him.
Why do I always call Free for All looking for help? You never call hark
---
You know it is a good football game when my mom pees her pants from screaming, and I cry happy tears. Rock chalk Jayhawk.
---
Suck it down, Mizzou.
---
Good work, KU football! We just proved that Missouri doesn't deserve that No. 12 ranking that goes next to its name. Rock Chalk!
I'm sick of babysitting my girl friends when they get drunk.
The couple who sits in front of all of us in Chem 184: Shut up for once
@KANSAN.COM
Want more? Check out Free for All online.