Opinion
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TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2009
WWW.KANSAN.COM
Thompson: Public option serves as only the first step
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My mom's a pastor, so I don't really have to worry about getting into heaven because she's got some pretty good connections.
My roommate has had glasses for two years and she just put them on and said, "Wow! These do help." Yeah, you think?
There is nothing quite so grand as bagpipes leading you into bars, followed by Irish car bombs.
Hey you jackasses who ride the buses: How about giving your seats to elderly people? You had better hope that you never get old, because apparently nobody is raised with respect and courtesy
wHey FFA, I found Waldo on campus today.
Damn, I realize I threw away my Chipotle chips.
--lives of college students. In a historically conservative state such as Kansas, senators can be skeptical of climate change and its effects on the environment. However, in light of new environmental research dealing with Kansas' future, both students and our senators should support climate change legislation.
I was at the soccer game and Big Jay stole my bike and rode it down some steps. That is why KU is awesome.
--lives of college students. In a historically conservative state such as Kansas, senators can be skeptical of climate change and its effects on the environment. However, in light of new environmental research dealing with Kansas' future, both students and our senators should support climate change legislation.
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Is it healthy if you ride a bike to go eat Kentucky Fried Chicken?
Clean up your trash and respect your town.
--lives of college students. In a historically conservative state such as Kansas, senators can be skeptical of climate change and its effects on the environment. However, in light of new environmental research dealing with Kansas' future, both students and our senators should support climate change legislation.
I can be your ice cream. We can be a sweet team.
I'm sitting at my laptop, drinking coffee and remembering the awesome sex I had last night. It's gonna be a great day!
I miss my boyfriend, FML
That's not an FML. That's a stage five clinger.
Ben Folds is coming to Lawrence on October 26th!
I wish I was one of those people who don't need to sleep very much.
--lives of college students. In a historically conservative state such as Kansas, senators can be skeptical of climate change and its effects on the environment. However, in light of new environmental research dealing with Kansas' future, both students and our senators should support climate change legislation.
Your smile is more contagious than swine flu.
I wish Facebook would actually let me view the event invitation that I supposedly have.
--lives of college students. In a historically conservative state such as Kansas, senators can be skeptical of climate change and its effects on the environment. However, in light of new environmental research dealing with Kansas' future, both students and our senators should support climate change legislation.
EDITORIAL BOARD
Support legislation to prevent climate change
MARIAM SAIFAN
The issue of climate change can seem distant and far removed from the daily
In an analysis recently released by "The Nature Conservancy," a self-described "leading conservation organization," new evidence suggests that by 2100, Kansas' average annual temperature will have increased by 10.4 degrees Fahrenheit.
This jump represents the highest of any state in the country. Though nearly 90 years in the future, this could be devastating for a state so dependent on agriculture in its economy. According to the Kansas Department of Agriculture, exports of agricultural products in Kansas were valued at more than $3.8 billion in 2007, and one in five Kansans
WORK IN JOB related to agriculture and food production.
to agriculture and food production. To curb the threat of climate change, this summer the House of
Representatives passed legislation entitled the American Clean Energy & Security Act. This cap-and-trade bill aims to limit the amount of greenhouse gases (or carbon emissions) that industries emit. By placing an emission limit, and auctioning off permits that allow industries to emit the carbon, clearly Congress has taken a step in the right direction
Despite the harm that climate change can do to this state, neither Kansas senators support the bill or any other type of climate change legislation. Senator Pat Roberts argued that rural communities and agricultural producers will be negatively impacted by the legislation.
KANSAN'S OPINION
said in a Senate Agricultural Cap and Trade hearing in July.
Robert's argument is dependent on his belief that the three remaining oil refineries in Kansas will be closed because of the federal "cap" on carbon emissions. Roberts said the closed refineries will in turn indirectly cause gasoline, diesel fuel, natural gas and fertilizer prices to "skyrocket."
"This cap-and-tax legislation would penalize rural communities in Kansas and indirectly add costs to family budgets," Roberts
The other Kansas senator, Sam Brownback, told The Wichita Eagle in August that the bill "has little chance of passing in the Senate." Like Roberts, Brownback cited the belief that rural communities would suffer under the new policies of the bill.
Both Brownback and Roberts have stated their disagreement with the cap-and-trade bill, but neither has come up with a better plan for climate change and both have given the issue the cold shoulder. Roberts even lists on his official Web site that "until Congress finds a way to control the weather for the betterment of our farmers and ranchers, I will continue to fight for policies that provide producers with choices, a strong safely net, adequate risk management tools and open markets."
With the future of Kansas suddenly looking bleak, we cannot afford for our senators to take a passive stance on the issue of climate change. If we do not want our state to suffer in the future, action needs to be taken now.
Students and members of the Kansas community should contact their senators to work toward passing preventative climate change legislation.
— Brett Salsbury for The Kansan Editorial Board
TELL YOUR SENATORS THAT YOU CARE ABOUT THE ENVIRONMENT AND THE FUTURE OF KANSAS.
Contact: E-mail Senator Brownback at brownback. senate.gov or call his Topeka office at 785-233-2503.
HUMOR
Boss bashing in the digital age
Last month, a group of five prison guards in New South Wales, Australia, were accused of misconduct for posting inflammatory messages about their boss on a closed Facebook group. Now, in an attempt to save their jobs, their union is taking them to court, and they're going to fight it all the way to the Australian Industrial Relations Commission.
It's yet another instance of how technology can complicate just as much as it can facilitate. Things used to be much simpler before the advent of the Web. The guards say they were just "letting off steam."
The case raises some important questions about the use of social media such as Facebook and Twitter when in comes to the workplace. Is badmouthing your boss on Facebook no different than "getting together in a pub ... and bagging the boss," as a representative for the guards claimed last week in an AP article by Rod McGuirk? Or is an employer within his or her bounds to fire somebody for posting negative comments in a public arena such as the Internet?
Well, back in my day, we let off steam the old-fashioned way: by vandalizing the boss' car. (Editor's note: The Kansan does not endorse vandalism, nor does it endorse the use of the phrase
"back in my day.")
It's not surprising that these prison guards felt the need to kick back. After all, they're a part of Australia's oldest and grandest tradition: the incarceration of criminals. It's got to be a tough job.
Unless they work at a Koala Jail. Then it would be an awesome job. A Koala Jail would definitely be the most adorable jail in the world. (Sorry, Leavenworth!)
But regardless of how cute the inmates are or how much eucalyptus is in their diets, it's still a workplace with standards of conduct for its employees. Whether or not it's within the prison's rights to fire the guards over something said outside of that workplace, the guards could have avoided being in that position by not posting the comments in the first place. if you wouldn't say it to your boss, don't say it in a publicly accessible and searchable forum with your name attached. That's the beauty of vandalism: It's totally anonymous!
It's not just boss-bashing that can get toks in trouble online. Sometimes just leaking what the boss says off the record has consequences as well.
Last week, after President Obama called Kanye West a "jackass" for his jackassery at the VMAs, ABC reporter Terry Moran immediately posted the off-hand comment on his Twitter. The White House was not pleased — even though it might be the single most popular thing Obama has said all year — and Moran deleted the tweet. ABC News quickly issued an apology.
There's something about these social-networking sites that turns off the part in our brain that makes us shut up. Sharing can quickly turn into over-sharing, and next thing you know the leader of the free world is upset with you.
Nobody's safe; I can't even slash my editor's tires without somebody taking a snapshot and posting it online for the world to see. (Editor's note: I knew it!)
Just because the Internet enables us to do something doesn't mean it's a good idea to do it. Some things are just better left in the pub.
Nichols is a a Stilwell junior in creative writing.
STUDENT LIFE
New law may lift weight of student debt, bad credit
College is a time for freedom and new
and new adventures. For many students, finding an exciting new life usually requires money. A few too many nights out, some immature spending choices and one overpriced spring break trip to Cancun often makes for more credit card debt than most students can handle.
The new Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure (CARD) Act will soon prevent damaging decisions college students sometimes make.
The act, signed by President Obama in May, is outlined on the White House's official Web site by the press secretary. With more than 80 percent of American households owning a credit card and 44 percent maintaining a balance on those credit cards, it's easy to understand how many will be affected by the new regulations.
Some of the changes listed in the press release include banning unfair fee traps and unfair rent increases, writing contracts in plain language and increasing penalties for card issuers who do not comply with the new rules.
The Credit CARD Act will have a large effect on college students. With most University students taking classes full-time and struggling to make ends meet, the temptation to use and abuse - a credit card is overwhelming. Caving to the friend and foe that is a credit card can leave students drowning in debt well after graduation. Not to mention the near impossibility of fixing a credit score after being massively in debt.
It's a catch-22 for students who are often forced to pay for classes, rent, basic needs and perhaps a few indulgences, but are spending their 9 to 5 in a classroom making little - if any - money.
So how will The Credit CARD Act be changing all of this? The new act won't be putting any
money in your pocket, but it may help you from devastating your financial future. According to University Parent Media, a publication for parents of college students, the act will prevent anyone under the age of 21 from signing up for a credit card without sending in a written submission that meets specific requirements.
Universities will also be forced to disclose any marketing agreements they have made with specific credit card companies.
Also, it's likely that students will need a parent to agree to a co-signer agreement before they can have one of those shiny plastic cards.
According to an MNDaily, com interview, Justin Draeger, vice president of the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, said the act will help to refine dangerous spending habits among students. He said it will also make credit cards less accessible to those who could benefit from using other resources.
The Credit CARD Act further echoes a Wall Street Journal article reporting the average college graduate has $23,186 in debt.
These new reforms could make it difficult for students to build good credit while in school, even though I know few students who are doing that without the help of mom or dad as a cosigner.
So keep your spending in check, or the Credit CARD Act will do it for you.
LETTER TO 'No Smoking'signs do little if University fails to enforce them
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Despite signs clearly indicating "No Smoking" within 20 feet of University buildings, smokers continue to puff away close to the entrances and exits of dormitories and class buildings. There is even an ash tray on Hashinger Hall's front porch, definitely within the 20-foot area and practically endorsing violating the posted signs' warnings.
Though the attempts to prevent cigarette-butt littering on the campus' part should be admired, it sends the wrong message when these trays are placed too close to the buildings.
The University must crack down on this practice. Exercising the right to smoke is one matter; infringing on nonsmokers' rights to their health is quite another.
Secondhand smoke
aggravates asthma, causes allergies and increases the risk of developing lung cancer. Even minimum exposure (such as walking through smoke) can become dangerous if accrued over time.
Nonsmoking students should have the right to enter the buildings housing their classes and beds without endangering themselves.
At the very least, it should strive to reinforce its own proclaimed nonsmoking areas. After all, restaurants, hotels and other services are required to do the same. Anything less would be a disservice to the people who work and study here at the University of Kansas every day.
Ideally, the University should become smoke-free. Why should any young person start accruing tar in their lungs because of the inconsideration of others?
Blaise Marcoux is a sophomore from Rockport, Ind.
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THE EDITORIAL BOARD Members of the Kansan Editorial Board are Brenna Hawley, Jessica Sain-Brent, Jennifer Holtz, Gattin Thornburg and Michael Holtz.