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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
opinion
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No FFA, I won't be polite. You watch YOUR mouth! (Bob Barker Voice)
Bitch ... Don't bury Osama in the ocean! Didn't Obama see Transformers? That's what they did to Megatron, and he came back to mess stuff up!
Yo, sound like Taylor Swift
Bob Barker is rolling over in his future grave because you didn't spay or neuter your pet.
Guy of my dreams, why are you only physically across the street but are metaphorically a thousand miles away? Not fair.
When walking up the hill towards Jayhawk Blvd, the last and final step says: "You Lose" Really? Is that necessary? Jerkoff...
I'm so tired of my gay friend telling me about how much big dick he gets. Stop rubbing it in that you're getting more than me.
My girlfriend just found a stray kitten after her old cat just died. Impossible to avoid an overly emotional encounter.
Is it normal to run away from your roommate in Wescoe because you would rather bathe in lava than listen to her dumb ass tell another story?
I run away from my roommate when we're home.
College is starting to feel like prison with all the angry people and bad food. I could use a conjugal visit.
The guy quoting "Mean Girls" in the underground is my hero.
WEDNESDAY, MAY 4, 2011
When did I eat corn? Weird that I can't remember. I haven't even drank in a couple days.
To every smoker on campus: You're disgusting. Also, if you blow smoke in my face again I will personally light a cigarette on fire and shove it up your nose.
I figured out the best way to find out who people stalk on Facebook. It's simple, really, but you have to be signed in as them.
infomercial drinking game — shot every time they say "risk-free."
Osama, you're nothing but a nuisance. Because of you I haven't been in the Free for All in two days.
I built a fort out of my roommate's loft bed . WHY DID I JUST NOW THINK OF THIS? #amfortheroom.
May the Fourth be with you, always.
I'm gassy and writing term papers. This is an apology to fellow students at the library pulling all-nighters with me.
Every time my roommate speaks, I am reminded that KU needs to raise its admission requirements. And that I need to raise my roommate requirements in the future.
everybody's in such a good mood today!!! Who died?
American social networking is balls deep in this Osama business.
There are three different things the word "Magic Bullet" refers to.
Plastic is bad for our environment and bodies
ENVIRONMENT
Last night I happened to catch the documentary "Bag It" on PBS. The film takes a look at how plastic is impacting our environmental and personal health. At first, I was inclined to change the channel. I mean, we've all heard about the millions of plastic bags we throw away every day and the Texas-sized patches of garbage floating in the Pacific. We've seen the pictures of taco-shaped sea turtles and plastic-wrapped seals.
So I thought I knew everything about plastic, but it turns out I didn't.
Like most people, I am very aware of how harmful plastic is to our ecosystems. I try to remember my reusable grocery bags and coffee cups when I head out the door. I try to recycle the plastic that I can't avoid using, and I repeatedly vow that I will never buy bottled water again. We all want to be environmentally responsible, but sometimes it's hard when plastic is so convenient.
BY RAEANNE HANDSHY
randshy@kansan.com
According to "Bag It," there are now more tiny bits of plastic floating in the ocean than plankton. And because the plastic and the plankton look so similar, the marine animals are eating it. Fish, birds, seals, turtles and whales are all dying with bellies tightly packed with plastic. It was shocking to see a turtle's stomach full of slimy strings of blue and pink plastic bags.
It's sickening to know that our convenient take out bag is endangering 260 species of marine animals, but what really got
my attention is what plastic is doing to us.
None of us would willingly eat a plastic bag or consume a water bottle, but we actually ingest the chemical building blocks of plastic every day. Two of the most widely used chemicals, bisphenol A (BPA) and phthalates, have been found to cause endocrine disruption.
This means that women are becoming more hormonally male and guys are becoming more hormonally female. According to the "Bag It" website, "recent studies have linked BPA to breast and prostate cancer, enlargement of the prostate, early onset of puberty, hyperactivity in children, obesity, heart disease and diabetes." Phthalates also impact our hormone levels and, according to the documentary, "studies have found low levels of phthalates to cause infertility, lower sperm count and smaller penis size."
The most frustrating part of this situation is that companies profiting from
the plastics industry lobby tirelessly to make sure they don't have to warn the public or even list these chemicals on packaging. The chemical phthalates is conveniently labeled "fragrance" on many of our personal care products like lotions, shampoos, makeup and hair products. According to "Bag It," this is most dangerous for the infants and toddlers playing with plastic toys, using plastic bottles and drinking BPA-lined tins of formula. These companies are knowingly doing us harm and working hard to keep us uninformed. The crazy thing is we are paying them to do it every time we buy their products. Check out the movie at bagitmovie.com. You might learn something new about the harmful side effects of using plastic. I know I did.
Handshy is a first year MBA from Lawrence.
Letter to the Editor Bin Laden's death isn't a time for cheer
I am conflicted with confusing emotions. It is hard for me to understand the celebration of death in any circumstance. I am sickened by the elation and joy bin Laden's death brings to so many people.
Is this not the exact emotion this hateful man must have felt when he watched the Twin Towers fall? To be able to revel in another's death is a terribly depressing concept, a defeat for humanity. I do realize that bin Laden's death is symbolic for many people. People feel as though justice has been served for the thousands of lives lost due to this man's heinous actions.
I hope people are able to reflect silently upon this, and I am happy for any solace or peace this brings to a hurting nation. However, I will never advocate celebrating death. I strongly support patriotism and believe in the fundamental values America has built itself upon, but I hope we as a nation do not use bin Laden's death to promote misguided patriotism. We already have a fragile reputation in many parts of the world and do not need to flaunt arrogant or ignorant
attitudes and further tarnish this reputation.
The kind of gloating exhibited by many citizens across our nation will only further add fuel to the fire of hate. We have killed one man — his ideologies still persist. So rather than celebrating his death and fanning the flames of hate that live on with his lasting ideologies, let us use this significant time in history to educate ourselves. Understand that his actions affected far more people than just Americans.
Rather than celebrate the symbolic death of bin Laden, celebrate the symbolic new beginning in the Arab world. Do not be consumed with hate; rather, strive to understand and promote peace. In the words of Martin Luther King Jr.: "Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that."
Amanda Campbell is a senior in Psychology and Arabic/ Islamic Studies from Wichita.
Is there a need for gender neutral bathrooms at the University?
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POLITICS
Drone missions counter-productive in war on terror
Since 2002, the U.S. has been using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs, also called "drone's") to target and kill its enemies in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen and now Libya. This method of warfare has been controversial. People argue that it violates the laws of war, international human rights law and U.S. law. The Obama Administration is unmoved by these concerns; the frequency of UAV strikes has actually increased.
I won't debate here the legality of killing suspected militants beyond the traditional battlefield. It is an issue that deserves discussion, but today I want to focus on UAVs' place in U.S. counterterrorism strategy. That strategy, according to White House documents, has two central prongs. One is the use of military force in Afghanistan and Pakistan to "disrupt, dismantle and defeat" al-Qaida and its affiliates. The other is to facilitate economic development in those countries and thereby minimize the conditions that foster extremism. Using UAVs under the first part of this strategy is undermining U.S. success in the second.
UAV strikes in Pakistan killed between 1,459 and 2,319 people in Pakistan since 2004. About 20 percent of
BY HANNAH SANDAL
hsandal@kansan.com
Most UAV strikes occur in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Area (FATA), a poor area lacking jobs, schools, health care and opportunities. In a recent opinion poll there, 76 percent of respondents opposed the UAV attacks in FATA. 81 percent thought that the strikes killed civilians. Although most respondents opposed suicide bombing in general, 59 percent said such attacks against the U.S. military may be justified.
those were non-militant civilians. As Pakistani officials have warned, there is a risk that citizens who have lost loved ones in the strikes will resort to extreme measures in retaliation.
The U.S. government has recognized that poverty creates conditions ripe for extremism. It has committed to addressing the causes of poverty in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The U.S. Security Strategy
(2010) aims to provide "substantial assistance for development to meet the needs of the Pakistani people." The explicit purpose of this aid is to "contrast al-Qaida's intent to destroy with our constructive vision," by working with "Muslim communities around the world on behalf of health, education, science, employment and innovation... security and opportunity." Seventy-two percent of those FATA poll respondents said that if the U.S. swapped UAV strikes for development aid their opinion of the U.S. would improve.
Yet, the UAV strikes destroy. They undermine that essential pillar of counterterrorism: economic development. As the former director-general of the World Trade Organization has observed, where there is progress and hope, there is much less fertile ground for the seeds of fanaticism. Pakistani officials have said that UAV strikes are impeding economic development and making it more difficult to fight terrorism. It certainly isn't improving public perception of the U.S. And as the government and people of Pakistan become more hostile to the U.S. activities there, opportunities to bridge the divides between our countries may disappear.
If FATA residents' views are at all representative of views in the larger region, it is apparent that the U.S. is losing its struggle against extremism and the terrorism it produces. Dismayingly, few poll respondents believed the U.S. "war on terror" was about terrorism. Seventy-nine percent thought the U.S. had ulterior motives, including dividing and weakening the Islamic world, waging a war on Islam, capturing oil reserves, and ensuring American domination.
Of 23 strikes in 2011 (so far), none have killed militant leaders. I am not arguing that UAVs should be banned or that they are never useful. I do argue that the strikes are now hurting more than helping. The U.S. should start focusing on changing the conditions that foster extremist and anti-American attitudes. And it should stop activities like UAV strikes, which foster resentment and plant the seeds of hate.
The number of deaths from UAV strikes in Pakistan comes from Peter Bergen and Katherine Tiedemann's drones database at the New America Foundation, which can be found at www.Newamerica.net.
Sandal is a third year law student from Baldwin City.
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