THE UNIVERSITY HALL GANSAR
PAGE 6
MONDAY OCTOBER 29, 2012
opinion
Text your FFA submissions to 785-289-8351 or at kansan.com
I will be wearing the same clothes for the next 36 hours. You can judge me once you've taken an eight-hour engineering exam.
This #BattendersInBras thing is a pretty good example of how misogynistic our society is. It takes copious amounts of alcohol and women barely dressed get us "excited" about finding a cure for breast cancer.
Don't go to class. Extra credit for attendance.
WHO YOU GONNA CALL?
My POLS TA's idea of teaching discussion is having us watch "The Daily Show" and talk about the debates. Why do I have to pay for this?
So this parade is just a never ending stream of leggings and Uggs...
I'll stop looking at you when you stop being handsome.
Let's start a new tradition and yell "noise" when the cheerleaders hold up the sign that says "noise!"
Well whale in Potter Lake, you're safe for another day.
I just want to charge the field one time while I'm in college, that's all I ask. Just one.
Mad props to the alumni twirler at the game. Made halftime worth staying for.
I have a special bond with Tryyaki
Not everyday that you get to watch a police chase, especially one that cuts through campus.
The whale in Potter Lake almost had some field goal posts to play with.
OK guys: Just because we have common interests and I talk to you doesn't mean I want to hook up!
There's nothing better than having a Bill
Self in your fridge waiting for you when
you wake up hungover.
I'd really like to go to sleep but my roommate won't get off the phone. Oh FFA editor, is there a polite way of saying "SHUT THE HELL UP?" Editor's Note: That seems polite enough to me.
That awkward moment when you see someone you know at the Cave and try to hold a conversation with them while their butt is grinding into some guy's crotch.
I'm a Jayhawk football, Chiefs and Royals fan. Needless to say, I'm ready for basketball season.
Swing states key as election winds down
ELECTION
With the upcoming presidential election descending upon us, the amount of coverage generated is making it feel inescapable, and we are not even living in a swing state, being bombarded by tens of millions of dollars of competing television ads.
The only thing that is clear about this race is that it will be too close to predict a winner until all the votes have been tallied, but despite a shrunken advantage, a tough sell in a pessimistic economy, and a race that is virtually tied—the president could very well be poised for re-election.
The lead President Obama held over the summer all but disappeared after a rough October,but since then,the momentum built up by the Romney camp seems to have dissinated.
President Obama has had a tough sell. Anytime an incumbent is up for re-election, part of the choice is a referendum of their performance during the time they had in office. The answer Team Obama has been forced to supply has basically been "it was worse
than we knew, and now it is better than you think," which is hardly an ideal advertisement.
As either an Obama supporter or as a supporter of Mitt Romney, you can find plenty of pundity to convince yourself that your candidate has all but locked up the 270 necessary electoral votes.
Election day is looming, and many states have already begun voting, leaving the candidates to rely on their "get out the vote" campaigns down the home stretch. At this late point in the campaign with little time left for members of the electorate to change their minds, voter turnout could be the primary variable remaining in the election equation. The single remaining jobs report seems unlikely to effect many voters or energize many apathetic ones leaving little left to sway undecideds or unlikelys, barring any more "major" announcements from Donald Trump.
According to the numbers provided by current polling data from Real Clear Politics, an aggregate of major polls, 11 states are listed as tops-ups with the rest
realistically predetermined. With so few states left in play, there are relatively few paths to the White House remaining for both Obama and Romney.
The easiest path for either candidate to win the election is simply winning Ohio where Obama has consistently held a narrow lead. It will be hard for either candidate to win the election without it or to lose the election while gaining its 18 electoral votes. However, there are a handful of scenarios that would play out that would find the winner of Ohio falling short.
Romney's path without Ohio is more congested than Obama's, and is part of the reason he could be less likely to meet the requisite 270 electoral votes. In order
to win without Ohio, Romney would have to carry both Virginia and Colorado, where he has been virtually tied with the president. That could be, in itself, a tough task, but he would then also need to win three of these four states: Wisconsin, Nevada, Iowa and New Hampshire, all in which Obama has held a very narrow advantage.
On top of those states, Romney would need Florida and North Carolina, where he has held moderate leads. All of that must happen for Romney to win without Ohio, unless he can steal Pennsylvania or Michigan where Obama has more considerable advantages. So for the Romney camp, the strategy is clear - win Ohio. However, at that point, they would still not quite be out of the woods.
Obama would not find himself in a comfortable position either if Romney carries Ohio even if it is less dire than the scenario described for Romney. For Obama to win the election, but fail to win Ohio, he would have to win in Michigan and Pennsylvania where he leads. Then depending
on how he fares in the tightly contested states Colorado and Virginia, where he would need at least one of the two to stay alive, he would have to win between two and four of the remaining "toss-ups." His best bets would include Wisconsin, Nevada, Iowa and New Hampshire, where his leads are small, because in the final two states, Florida and North Carolina, Romney holds advantages (all polling according to current statistics on RCP).
Anything can happen in the week remaining until Election Day, and Ohio is still decidedly up for grabs. But because of Obama's higher likelihood of success in that most crucial of swing states and his marginally more favorable (yet bleak) probability of winning the election without its 18 electoral votes than his opponent's chances sans-Ohio, it seems the odds are in the president's favor.
Cosby is a sophomore majoring in economics and political science from Overland Park. Follow him on Twitter @clavonys
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
While Amanda Gress' article "Middle East conflicts largely ignored" focuses on the problems Israeli settlers pose to peace between Israel and Palestine, it fails to acknowledge that Israel's territorial sovereignty is under attack by Iran.
According to The Jerusalem Post, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, speaking earlier this year, said, "[a]nyone who loves freedom and justice must strive for the annihilation of the Zionist regime in order to pave the way for world justice and freedom."
At heart of this effort are the terrorist organizations, and political parties, Hamas and Hezbollah. Both parties have been
pose a problem to peace negotiations between Palestine and Israel, they do not account for policies that call for the "full annihilation of Israel," as Iranian Major Gen. Hassan Firouzabadi remarked in May, according to The Times of Israel.
responsible for rocket attacks, past and present, against Israel; and recently, Hezbollah sent an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly called a "drone," over Israel, and claimed that the drone was built by Iran.
Hamas, the Palestinian offshoot of the transnational Muslim Brotherhood, and Hezbollah, both major political parties and terrorist organizations, receive funding from the state of Iran, as well as donations made by wealthy backers and charities. These groups act as agents of Iranian interests in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip; and represent an effort to destroy the state of Israel.
As long as terrorist organizations, political parties and countries maintain that the state of Israel should be destroyed, peace in the Middle East will not exist, regardless of any peace efforts initiated by the United States.
Although Israeli settlers may
Kellen Ashford is a first year political science graduate student from Lee's Summit, Mo.
ENTERTAINMENT
Beyoncé's Superbowl show should impress
The Superbowl: Some watch it because they love football, some watch it for the comical commercials and others watch it for the halftime show.
The word has leaked, and now it is no longer a secret. According to The Associated Press, Beyoncé Knowles will be headlining the performance during the halftime show at this season's Superbowl on Feb. 3, in New Orleans. It is the first Superbowl to be held in New Orleans since 2002, and the first since Hurricane Katrina ruined part of the Superdome in 2004. This will be the most watched television event of the year.
Beyonce leaked this news via her official Tumblr account with a headline reading "Countdown to Touchdown" and confirmed the news by posting a picture of herself wearing players eye black with the date of the performance on her face.
Pepsi will be the sponsor for the show. It is the first time since 2007, when Prince performed, that Pepsi has sponsored the event. I remember that performance and thought is was one of the better ones in recent years, ahead of shows by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Bruce Springsteen and rock legends The Who. The previous years have been the genre of "classic rock" and targeted the older audience for the show but not this year. Beyoncé is our generation's music, and we can expect the show to attract a large amount of teenagers and young adults as well as others.
With previous halftime shows not living up to the hype, Beyonce's performance should stand out and attract more viewers than last year's record breaking 114 million viewers with Madonna headlining that performance. That even drew more fans than the actual game did with 111 million viewers, according to the Nielsen Ratings. That performance was chaotic and weak, especially when MIA showed the camera her middle finger that stirred up a bunch of controversy over the halftime show. This is the second obscene
Even though I am not a fan of Beyoncé's singing, she will put on a good show. She is known as one of the best live performers of our time and has a legacy of sounding better live than recorded. She will live up to her reputation and put on a good performance of dancing, singing and a high fashion show. Beyoncé has won 16 Grammy awards and even sang the national anthem at the start of Superbowl XLVII in 2004 in her hometown of Houston.
gesture during a halftime show, the first being Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake.
Regardless of what people say, this halftime show will be an entertaining performance for what is an anticipated record breaking amount of viewers for the event. Stay tuned.
As of right now, we only know of Beyoncé as the sole performer, but we could see her husband Jay-Z guest star in the show along with old band mates from Destiny's Child. But we won't know this until the performance is aired live on national television in February.
Carroll is a junior majoring in English from Salem, Conn. Follow him on twitter @BCarroll01.
HALLOWEEN
Don't 'skankify' your costume, get creative
On Nov. 1 of last year, my friends and I sat around discussing the Halloween costumes we had seen the night before. I think my friend Casie best summed up our opinions of most of the female costumes.
"Girls, if your Halloween costume can double as a role play in the bedroom, you're doing it wrong."
Words to live by.
Maybe it's because last year, my friends and I wore footie pajamas, Mario and Luigi unitards and unicorn helmets, but we simply didn't understand the inclination to sport a promiscuous firefighter costume on Halloween night.
Believe me, I understand the reasoning. I've seen "Mean Girls." Halloween is the one night a year that a woman can dress like a prostitute and no one can say anything to her.
And yet, I can say something to you. I can say that, regardless of what night it is, photos of you in your Playboy bunny costume will be online all year long. I can say that your boyfriend will still love you if you don't wear that his-and-her-plug-and-socket costume. I can say that you'll have a much better night if you don't have to worry about falling out of your five-inch platform heels.
What I really don't understand is the desire to turn something completely non-sexual into a bra-and-booty-shorts combo. I mean, a watermelon costume with cutouts in the shape of bite marks? A "sexy" strait jacket? A Pikachu costume complete with fishnets and a black and yellow corset? It upsets me that the women's section of Hallowen stores is filled with skanked versions of about every character or item you can imagine.
Some of my friends do a great job of wearing traditional costumes as tastefully as possible. Dressing as alcohol equals poster boards crafted into red solo cups or pirates carrying handles of Captain Morgan (not scrawling Dos Equis across a barely-there duct tape dress). Dressing as athletes equals braiding hair into cornrows and wearing men's basketball shorts (not turning a jersey into a dress paired with kitten heels). Being creative beats being racy any day.
If nothing else, think of comfort over sex appeal. How much more fun will you be if you're free to dance, party hop and maneuver around a room without worrying about a wardrobe malfunction on your sexy Girl Scout costume? (Yes, these exist. And yes, I'm just as concerned as you are).
I won't even mention the benefits of erring on the modest side for reputation's sake. To lift and slightly modify another quote from "Mean Girls"; You have got to stop dressing like sluts and whores. It just makes it OK for guys to call you sluts and whores.
Everyone wants to look cute on the spookiest night of the year, but stay classy, Jayhawks. Stay classy.
P. S. If you're looking for me, I'll be the girl in the suit-and-tie Gangnam Style costume I've pieced together at Goodwill (Either that or whatever I find at Walmart that day).
Mayfield is a junior studying journalism, public policy and leadership from Overland Park. Follow her on twitter @lindsmafY.
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