Opinion
United States First Amendment
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2009
United States First Amendment Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Brown: Making the most of your college experience
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To the guy handing out Nobel Prizes on Halloween: You are
--skyline, but it may be an even bigger piece than was originally thought. With the new hotel already 33 feet higher than originally planned, builders should continue with caution because of the hotel's proximity to campus and a historic district.
Whoever arranged Halloween to be on the same night as falling the clocks back is a
Dear pizza boy: Why didn't you ask for my number?
--skyline, but it may be an even bigger piece than was originally thought. With the new hotel already 33 feet higher than originally planned, builders should continue with caution because of the hotel's proximity to campus and a historic district.
Probably because he already has your address.
--skyline, but it may be an even bigger piece than was originally thought. With the new hotel already 33 feet higher than originally planned, builders should continue with caution because of the hotel's proximity to campus and a historic district.
Pineapple Malibu is my new favorite thing.
--skyline, but it may be an even bigger piece than was originally thought. With the new hotel already 33 feet higher than originally planned, builders should continue with caution because of the hotel's proximity to campus and a historic district.
I got my first tat on Halloween, and it's so bad ass.
--skyline, but it may be an even bigger piece than was originally thought. With the new hotel already 33 feet higher than originally planned, builders should continue with caution because of the hotel's proximity to campus and a historic district.
I'm bored and slightly lonely. Why do my friends suck?
--skyline, but it may be an even bigger piece than was originally thought. With the new hotel already 33 feet higher than originally planned, builders should continue with caution because of the hotel's proximity to campus and a historic district.
I quite enjoy my boyfriend's tonguery.
If you kiss under the Campanile, you get married. What if you have sex next to Potter's Lake?
--skyline, but it may be an even bigger piece than was originally thought. With the new hotel already 33 feet higher than originally planned, builders should continue with caution because of the hotel's proximity to campus and a historic district.
--skyline, but it may be an even bigger piece than was originally thought. With the new hotel already 33 feet higher than originally planned, builders should continue with caution because of the hotel's proximity to campus and a historic district.
When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice. But when the wicked bear the rule, the people mourn.
--skyline, but it may be an even bigger piece than was originally thought. With the new hotel already 33 feet higher than originally planned, builders should continue with caution because of the hotel's proximity to campus and a historic district.
That's a really fancy way of saying a very bland, common sense fact.
--skyline, but it may be an even bigger piece than was originally thought. With the new hotel already 33 feet higher than originally planned, builders should continue with caution because of the hotel's proximity to campus and a historic district.
--skyline, but it may be an even bigger piece than was originally thought. With the new hotel already 33 feet higher than originally planned, builders should continue with caution because of the hotel's proximity to campus and a historic district.
I heard "Party in the USA" on the radio this morning on the way to school. I know it's going to be a good day.
If I wanted a warm November afternoon I'd move to California
--skyline, but it may be an even bigger piece than was originally thought. With the new hotel already 33 feet higher than originally planned, builders should continue with caution because of the hotel's proximity to campus and a historic district.
Dear girlfriend: Please come home from Iraq soon.
--skyline, but it may be an even bigger piece than was originally thought. With the new hotel already 33 feet higher than originally planned, builders should continue with caution because of the hotel's proximity to campus and a historic district.
I found Waldo about 65 times on Halloween.
--skyline, but it may be an even bigger piece than was originally thought. With the new hotel already 33 feet higher than originally planned, builders should continue with caution because of the hotel's proximity to campus and a historic district.
"No Shave November" is finally
--skyline, but it may be an even bigger piece than was originally thought. With the new hotel already 33 feet higher than originally planned, builders should continue with caution because of the hotel's proximity to campus and a historic district.
Never let it be said that I'm not a nice guy. When I heard people next door having sex, I put on Marvin Gaye for them.
--skyline, but it may be an even bigger piece than was originally thought. With the new hotel already 33 feet higher than originally planned, builders should continue with caution because of the hotel's proximity to campus and a historic district.
How pathetic is it that my Halloween festivities ended at ten, but I haven't taken off my costume yet because I know I won't have another excuse to rock my suit for a long time?
--skyline, but it may be an even bigger piece than was originally thought. With the new hotel already 33 feet higher than originally planned, builders should continue with caution because of the hotel's proximity to campus and a historic district.
Yay! Now I can listen to Christmas music.
What if weed was the fruit on the Tree of Knowledge?
--skyline, but it may be an even bigger piece than was originally thought. With the new hotel already 33 feet higher than originally planned, builders should continue with caution because of the hotel's proximity to campus and a historic district.
--skyline, but it may be an even bigger piece than was originally thought. With the new hotel already 33 feet higher than originally planned, builders should continue with caution because of the hotel's proximity to campus and a historic district.
EDITORIAL BOARD
Oread Inn cell towers higher than expected
The Oread Inn has added a new piece to Lawrence's library.
KANSAN FILE PHOTO
The original drawings of the hotel showed the four flagpoles on top of the building as being 33 feet shorter than their current length. The flagpoles, which also will serve as cellular phone towers, add significant height to the building, bringing the total height to 156 feet. This increased height was mentioned in a technical note submitted with the plan but was not shown in the drawings.
City Planning Director Scott McCullough noted that though
"The building itself went through
had a significant effect. Initially, Student Senate voted on a thin 22-30 margin to reject a resolution against the Oread Inn. In addition to Student Senate's support, city commissioners voted unanimously to approve the ambitious project. But now, it is evident the public should have been better informed
itself went through a public process and they were not concerned with the height." McCullough said. "I hope there's not a perception that it is meant to compete with other buildings in the area."
The construction of the Oread Inn has faced opposition in the past, but no complaints have
KANSAN'S
OPINION
Even with the recent height detail coming into focus, McCullough said he was looking forward to
about the technicalities of the plans
seeing the buildings completion.
"The detail was approved by the governing body, and it wasn't overlooked," McCullough said. "As I recall, there were no questions about it, and as I understood, the commission knew what it was, that it included larger flagpoles, and there were no questions raised
seeing the'building's completion.
about the height."
The commission might have known how large they would be, but because it was a technical note, it could have been misleading to the public.
The Oread Inn is a valuable new part of the city and the University. Its construction will bring in revenue and add a new dynamic to an already historic area. However, the increased height of the hotel adds a new point of focus to the historic Lawrence skyline, and in doing so, is a competing focal point with other campus buildings, most notably the flags atop Fraser Hall. The visual center of campus for visitors and community members should be one of the oldest academic buildings on campus as opposed to an off-campus business.
EDITORIAL CARTOON
— Brett Salsbury for The Kansan Editorial Board.
"AS SOON AS WE CAN RUSSELL UP A PUBLIC OPTION, THEN THIS SHOTGUN WEDDING CAN PROCEED.
BUT THIS IS YOUR OPTION. "
NICHOLAS SAMBALUK
RELIGION
A not-so-Christian nation
In his song "With God on our Side", a disillusioned Bob Dylan wrestles with America's past identity as a Christian nation, questioning whether God was using America or if America was using God. In doing so, he underscores a theme of the American mythos as old as the nation itself.
The relationship between faith and politics in America has long been contentious. Presidents have invoked God to justify policies. Religion, particularly evangelicalism, has invoked America to broaden influence, while the cry for separation between the two has never been louder.
If the debate about church and state seems perennial in today's public forum, a historical look at the Christian church might explain why.
Yet, under such marginalization the faith thrived, growing vastly in numbers and in aid to the poor. Unlike evangelicals today, adherents never sought influence through political means. Early followers were even pacifists, protesting Roman military drafts
At its outset, Christianity was not only separate from the state, it was illegal. On the fringes of the Roman Empire, adherents gathered in secrecy to avoid persecution or worse.
of the day. To them, holy war seemed an oxymoron.
Then in the fourth century, Emperor Theodosius I adopted Christianity as the official religion of the Roman Empire. For the first time, the church was in bed with the state. Christianity was plunged to the forefront of government affairs and the Western world changed forever.
This intertwining of sacred and state altered the church's stance on many issues, including pacifism. Crosses were plastered on the front of shields and wars were first waged for a prince of peace. Religious faith became not an active personal decision, but a passive collective assumption.
Rome, like America after it,
appeared to have God on its side
Historian David L. Holmes concludes that none of America's first five presidents were Christian in any conventional sense. Yet a Christian America has remained prevalent in the minds of many throughout history, perhaps with more fingerprints of Rome than
they would care to admit.
In his book "Myth of a Christian Nation," Dr. Gregory Boyd notes history's effect on the American mythos.
"We have tended to believe that God's will was manifested in the conquest and founding of our country," he writes. "The truth is that the concept of America as a Christian nation is losing its grip on the collective psyche."
If Boyd's assertion is true, and if history is any teacher, perhaps it's reason for Americans both sacred and secular to reioice.
Though the constitution nowhere mentions "separation of church and state," it does promise a government free of religious bias. The more pluralistic America Boyd foresees would more accurately reflect the diversity of worldviews in American society, as well as the constitutional framers' intent.
As for the church, perhaps finally shedding the stigma of a Christian nation — and the shadow of Rome — would set communities of faith free, enabling them to reach out and focus where they always have best; along the margins of society. Indeed, it is there that Mother Teresa visited far more lepers than politicians. Hafner is a Great Bend junior in journalism.
HUMAN RIGHTS
Domestic violence revealed
This week is Domestic Violence Awareness Week at the University of Kansas. The student group Delta Force will be spearheading a campaign to educate students and community members about domestic violence, and several other student organizations and community groups are co-sponsoring the event.
A week of education about domestic violence is important because it's extremely pertinent to the daily lives of many people at the University and in Lawrence.
"A lot of people don't understand how prevalent it is," Liz Stuewe, Lawrence senior and member of Delta Force, said.
A survey done in 2000 by the National Institute of Justice and the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention found that one in four women is a victim of domestic violence. The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence Web site said most cases of domestic violence were not reported to the police.
Until I started learning about the advocacy groups on campus and what they planned to do during Domestic Violence Awareness Week, I did not know much about domestic violence. I don't think many students think about it until they or someone they know experiences it firsthand.
It seems this problem is only made worse by common misconceptions about domestic violence.
"The overarching stereotype is so often between a husband and a wife," Stuewe said.
Stueve explained that domestic violence happened in non-marital relationships, LGBT relationships, between family members and even between roommates.
Another seemingly widespread fallacy is that domestic violence constitutes mainly physical abuse.
"I believe that domestic violence is any abuse, albeit verbal or physical, that takes place in the confines of a situation where one person feels like the other one has more power in a relationship." Tanner Willbanks, Hayes senior, said.
Domestic abuse often occurs in relationships where one partner tends to be more dominant than the other, Willbanks said.
Willbanks is the domestic violence outreach coordinator for the Commission on the Status of Women, one of the groups spreading awareness during Domestic Violence Week.
"Another big misconception when it comes to domestic violence in particular is that, well, if it's that bad, she can just leave or he can just leave," Willbanks said. "That's not really the case. These people have been pretty much terrorized to the point that they don't see a way out, and part of the abuse is usually their partner convincing them that there is no way out."
It is my hope that students will take time to educate themselves about domestic violence so if they find themselves in violent situations, they can recognize it and remove themselves immediately.
Other groups involved in Domestic Violence Awareness Week include KU Young Democrates, Queers and Allies, Amnesty International, KU College Republicans, Alpha Chi Omega, The Emily Taylor Women's Resource Center, Women's Transitional Care Services and the GaDuGi Safe Center.
For information on the week's schedule, students should stop by the informational tables that will be on the lawn in front of Stauffer-Flint Hall this week.
Cosby is an Overland Park sophomore in journalism and political science.
Follow columnist
Kelly Cosby at
twitter.com/
Cosby Writes.
Lastly, the public option will
LETTER TO THE EDITOR Not an option not create com
Ben Cohen's "Politically Correct" column in favor of the public option is an ever more frequent insight into stage-five liberal dementia. The public option is not a good idea. It will not "guarantee us coverage until we could afford it ourselves." If coverage is defined as the government telling you what sicknesses you can be treated for, long waits for simple surgeries and small businesses collapsing because of mandatory health coverage costs, then, empirically, coverage will be guaranteed.
These problems didn't arise in some distant land, they occurred in Massachusetts within one year of state law mandating health insurance for all. Within two minutes of searching on ehealthinsurance.com I found more than 70 health insurance plans for $27 a month and more, or four hours of work if you make minimum wage. Most 19- to 29-year-olds forgo purchasing health insurance because they don't think they will get sick, not because they can't afford it.
not create competition — it will destroy it. How can private insurers compete with this "new player" who doesn't have to worry about costs or having a profit margin? It's simple — private insurers can't charge a price below their costs and then tax all of us to make up the difference. The government can.
President Barack Obama, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi have spoken of their desire for single-payer government health care on record several times. The public option is not a mere player — its Obama's stepping stone to socialized health care. Competing with the public option is comparable to wanting to go to Quinton's tonight but realizing you have insufficient dinero in your ATM to finance another night of debauchery. Meanwhile, the government also wants to go to Quinton's, checks their bank account at an ATM, realizes its overdrawn $11 trillion and decides to buy all of Massachusetts Street anyway.
Hoyt Banks is a senior from Stilwell.
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Members of the Edinburgh Editorial Board are Benra Bhaamway, Jesica Saina Baim, Jennifer Torline, Hakley Jones, Kaitlin Thornberg and Michael Holtz.