Opinion
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. WWW.KANSAN.COM
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2010
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--editor's note: Yes, obligatory V for Vendetta reference. Now go watch the movie and move on with your lives.
Legen- wait for it...
--editor's note: Yes, obligatory V for Vendetta reference. Now go watch the movie and move on with your lives.
Can someone tell me why I'm the only person wearing a coat ... it's way too cold for shorts.
图图图
Don't you just hate it when your butt falls asleep?
--editor's note: Yes, obligatory V for Vendetta reference. Now go watch the movie and move on with your lives.
Dear Kansas Police:
McDonald's smells NOTHING like weed. Just so you know.
The Four Lokos article just made me want to try it...
--editor's note: Yes, obligatory V for Vendetta reference. Now go watch the movie and move on with your lives.
Remember, remember the 5th of November. The gunpowder, treason and plot. I know of no reason why the gunpowder treason should
ever be foraot
with your lives.
Hey KU, I like the new computers in the Budig computer lab!
--prospects, as once-long haired activists got "Clean for Gene" to make appeals to the broader public or walked precincts for Kennedy, a young candidate himself.
--prospects, as once-long haired activists got "Clean for Gene" to make appeals to the broader public or walked precincts for Kennedy, a young candidate himself.
Hey T-Rex, keep it down up there
Scooby Dooby Doo Where Are YOU?
--prospects, as once-long haired activists got "Clean for Gene" to make appeals to the broader public or walked precincts for Kennedy, a young candidate himself.
You can't call shotgun for eternity.
--prospects, as once-long haired activists got "Clean for Gene" to make appeals to the broader public or walked precincts for Kennedy, a young candidate himself.
--prospects, as once-long haired activists got "Clean for Gene" to make appeals to the broader public or walked precincts for Kennedy, a young candidate himself.
John Mayer, Kanye West,
Taylor Lautner, Adam Young
and Joe Jonas are going to
form a band in retaliation of
Taylor Swift's new album.
Whenever I'm high I become terrified of my boobs, I mean, I just don't get it. Except for that they're like built-in pillows. That I get.
--prospects, as once-long haired activists got "Clean for Gene" to make appeals to the broader public or walked precincts for Kennedy, a young candidate himself.
One of the best things about basketball season starting is that I can officially make fun of my brother again for going to K-State!
--prospects, as once-long haired activists got "Clean for Gene" to make appeals to the broader public or walked precincts for Kennedy, a young candidate himself.
I want a man. It's going on my Christmas list, right under a nony
--prospects, as once-long haired activists got "Clean for Gene" to make appeals to the broader public or walked precincts for Kennedy, a young candidate himself.
Lets hook up and see if it's worth it to date.
--prospects, as once-long haired activists got "Clean for Gene" to make appeals to the broader public or walked precincts for Kennedy, a young candidate himself.
Stop being hot. It makes everything more difficult.
--prospects, as once-long haired activists got "Clean for Gene" to make appeals to the broader public or walked precincts for Kennedy, a young candidate himself.
I am so sorry guys keep falling all over themselves for you. That must reeeeally suck.
--prospects, as once-long haired activists got "Clean for Gene" to make appeals to the broader public or walked precincts for Kennedy, a young candidate himself.
LEGENDARY!
POLITICS
Youth turnout disappoints, but fits historical pattern
Experts predicted the numbers months in advance. Defiant Democrats insisted the polls were off-mark. When the tallies came in though, the consensus forecast proved accurate.
I refer not to the Republican rout of congressional Democrats,but to the low turnout among young adults in the midterm elections. While local turnout for an off-year election was relatively robust returns showed low participation in university precincts.
It would be quite simple to criticize college students who, despite a vested interest in higher education, the economy, war, peace, health care and climate change — the same issues facing every other American — chose to stay home. Plenty of ink will be spilled for that purpose though. Much more intriguing is the question of why campus politicking has plummeted.
For all the chatter about how President Obama's candidacy invigorated young voters, it appears exceedingly likely that the 2008 election will prove a countertrend. The president's presence on the ballot in 2012 will surely bring many young voters back to the polls, but with unemployment expected to remain high, enthusiasm will not match 2008 levels.
Nostalgic Boomers — and those who wished they'd been around for the 1960s—compared Obama's campaign to the antiwar candidacies of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy and Eugene McCarthy in 1968. Legions of college students rallied to these presidential
Politics on Campus
BY LUKE BRINKER
lbrinker@kansan.com
The comparison isn't exactly apt. Eighteen to 24 year olds showed up to the poll at a 44.3 percent rate in 2008, up sharply from a 19.9 percent turnout in the 2006 midterms. But the 2004 presidential election brought 41.9 percent of young voters to the ballot box. If Obama's campaign signaled an influx of new youth into the political process, youd think there would have been a bit more than a 2.4 percent uptick in young voter turnout.
In 1968 — before the voting age was lowered to 18 — young adults between 21 and 24 voted at a rate of 51.1 percent. That was even after many anti-war activists were demoralized by the triumph of pro-war Hubert Humphrey at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. America's restless youth may not have been satisfied with the choices confronting them, but they demonstrated a greater perception of the stakes than today's young adults.
youth engagement in the political process.It's hard to overstate the importance of the draft in motivating college students to mobilize against the war. One can safely assume that if the draft were still in effect today, young adults' political participation would be sharply higher.
We must be careful, though,
not to romanticize the 1960s, the decade of campus protests and
And although the Twitterless world of five decades ago meant people were more likely to physically come together to rally for such noble causes as civil and women's rights, we shouldn't lose sight of some of the less flattering aspects of the time period — episodes like the torching of the Kansas Union, the radical activities of the Weather Underground, and the absurdist, borderline nihilistic outlook of the counterculture.
Remember, too, that even though college has become much more expensive in the intervening years, it's spread to more segments of the population. Once-excluded sectors — minorities, the working class, immigrants — are more likely to take part in postsecondary education than their predecessors. These people continue to grapple with disenfranchisement and discrimination, despite the progress they've made. They feel a lower sense of political agency, contributing to lower rates of political involvement among college students as a whole.
So, is low turnout disappointing? Undoubtedly. But it makes sense in light of a bit of historical perspective.
Brinker is a sophomore from Topeka in history.
CARTOON
In 2008, Obama won the presidency and his friends got a 9 seat lead in the Senate and control of the House with 257 seats. He personally has named almost a quarter of the nation's highest judicial panel. In the two years since the election, the national debt has risen by 3 trillion. Unemployment is a third again higher than it was in 2008. Obama's reply is that he needs more power for a longer time.
NICHOLAS SAMBALUK
Films have value even without sex
GUEST COLUMN
Sex.
I'm no conservative, but I've found myself fussing over the cinematic (and social) fixation with sex of late. Not just any plain old sex, though. Teen sex.
Sex is everywhere these days. Lately, cinema's naughty infatuation has transcended to an adolescent level. With movies like "Easy A" and "The Virginity Hit" being fired at us left and right, it's kind of hard to ignore.
Have I got your attention now? I thought so.
Riddle me this: When's the last time you saw a mainstream young adult flick and the content did not mention virginity or the dirty deed?
Don't get me wrong — I'm well aware that movies have featured people "doing it" for ages. But the mainstream film industry has been pandering this once-taboo content to younger and younger demographics each passing decade, and desensitizing youths to the point where sex is presented to them as a casual social hurdle.
In our culture, sex is unavoidable. Historically, movies containing sexual content have been tailored to a fully grown, swanky, martini-sipping generation who gasped at a hint of thigh.
Now when I say "youth," I primarily mean people between the ages of 16 and 23. For those of you who detest this general label, sit tight and bear with me.
Teen cinema has been openly acquainted with the quest for sex since the groovy 70s ("Little Darlings," anyone?). In the '80s it had brat pack fads like "The Breakfast Club," "Weird Science" and "Sixteen Candles," and in the late '90s there came a little film called "American Pie."
This definitely is not your grand
parents' sexy fanfare.
This is child's play compared to the past few months in movie releases. Now it's tales of high school sex gossip gone awry, a documentary of a sexually desperate nerd and a Facebook genius who admits that his site was a tool to score him a little sugar.
I'm not making any naive or obtuse assumptions here. I know
Because how dare anyone be a virgin these days? It's, like, so lame. Virginity's a delicate subject, and cultural revolutions have brought this once private matter into public scrutiny. In any case, you're judged for a choice that's nobody's business but your own.
7
that our generation's not the first to explore sex cinematically, but we're absolutely the first to be bombarded with popular films glorifying sex-based youth struggles ("Superbad" and "The Girl Next Door" ringing any bells?). Not bad films per say, but films that demand sex as a required checkpoint in high school or early college.
Sex has become an out-in-the-open social disease, a parasite of anxiety and expectation. It's a teenage dilemma, a generational obstacle ... but it's not everything. Or am I just being a giant square?
Well, on behalf of all us nerds out there, I think Hollywood should take a few months off and check itself into sex rehab.
- UWIRE. Cara Leigh for The Lariat at Baylor University.
HUMOR
Predicting the outcome for next year's election
Last week's elections were marked by the breakout popularity of a particu-
popularity of a particular political movement. A new party emerged as the voice of the people, one that some people had written off as crazy and illegitimate.
Yes, the Rent is 2 Damn High party was the sensation that swept the nation, and although Jimmy McMillan only earned 1% of the vote in his race for the governorship of New York, his willingness to tell the truth about the rent and how damn high it is and his infectious personality made him a star.
But now the elections are over, and it's time to move on. There are only two years until the next election, and it's never too early to try and figure out which quirky gimmick candidates will establish themselves as big non-factors in races across the country. I've used my insider status to pinpoint which outsider candidates and political parties are on the rise. When they earn as much as 2 percent of the vote, remember it was me and not that poser Nate Silver at The New York Times who made the prophetic projection.
Gen. Larry Platt, The Pants are 2 Damn Low party
Remember the "Pants on the Ground" guy? He was the most popular guy around about twenty Internet memes ago but has since faded back into obscurity. He's ripe for a comeback, and he just so happens to be a perfect candidate for political candidacy. Like McMillan, he's got one big issue he likes to hammer on repeatedly, he's a musician (McMillan recorded as "Jimmy Mack" in the 70s and released an album on election day) and, based on his dance moves on American Idol, is probably a fellow karate expert, too. Basil Marceauy Dot Net
Basil Marceaux Dot Net
Basil Marceaux Dot Com was clearly the best candidate in the country this year, but he lost in the Republican primary for Tennessee governor. Everything about his campaign was perfect, from his Kennedyesque speaking abilities to his hardline stance against making any sense whatsoever. So what was wrong? His domain, "Dot Com" is too commercial; perhaps voters thought he was a corporate sellout. "Dot Gov" wouldn't work either, since he's none too fond of the government. "Dot Net" would emphasize his excellent networking skills and his ability to really get things done, like Sandra Bullock in the 1995 thriller "The Net." The Shoe Marriage Party
BY ALEX NICHOLS
anichols@kansap.com
When McMillan said he was fine with people marrying shoes if they wanted to, he unwittingly started a movement. For too long, foot fetishists have been ostracized, unable to join with their beloved shoes in holy matrimony. The members of this party wear their hearts on their sleeves and their lovers on their feet, and they're looking to finally make it official. They'll have to deal with their fair share of detractors, however — after all, God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and a pair of Birkenstocks. Sarah Palin
Sarah Palin
Famed comedian Sarah Palin's hilarious "Sarah Palin" character captured the imaginations of Americans everywhere when she made a satirical run for vice president in 2008. Don't be surprised if she trots out her beloved creation again in 2012. Some critics say Palin plays her character way too stupid, but isn't that the point? She's exploring what would happen if a folksy moron wandered her way into the national political spotlight. Palin's performance art is outrageously absurd, yet she has managed to fool more than a few people into thinking it's not a joke. She may be a fake candidate, but she could make a very real run at the Oval Office. Imagine the laughs wed have if that happened!
Nichols is a senior from Stilwell in creative writing.
Chatterbox
Responses to the news of the week on Kansan.com
"Ali, I very much appreciate your letter today. There's no justification for the current war on people who use illegal drugs, other than it protects the jobs of the people waging the 'war.' The organization Students for Sensible Drug Policy (ssdp.org) have chart major university in the country, why not KU? In 2006, at my urging, the Lawrence city council passed a law making possession of marijuana illegal in the city of Lawrence. This law effectively bypasses the Higher Education Drug Provision, which denies or delays student financial aid to applicants who have a marijuana conviction, because the Drug Provision only applies when the conviction is in state or federal court, NOT city court. This is a big bonus for KU students, but really doesn't go far enough. The penalties, on campus, for marijuana violations should be the same as those for alcohol, and currently they are not. I do take exception with your assertion of "the proven fact that marijuana [has] negative long-term effects on health..." There's no data to prove that there are any long-term negative effects on health from smoking marijuana. Marijuana does not cause cancer. These are myths propagated by the same people who advocate for strict penalties for users."
— 'green17' in response to "jail not appropriate response to pot" on Nov. 4.
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