Opinion The University Daily Kansan
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MONDAY, AUGUST 23, 2010
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FREE FOR ALL
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All I remember from last night was taking a Lebron James shot at Tonic and then yelling at the dog Cinnamon ... Cinnamon! Cinnamon!
--supplies!"
My life is currently in shambles.
--supplies!"
Walking around my apartment in my underwear, just as things should be.
--supplies!"
The hand sanitizer in my first aid kit looks exactly like the triple antibiotic ointment, am I the only one that sees a problem with this?
I'm a pretty girl watching a movie with her roommate on a Saturday night. There's something wrong with this picture.
I'm scared I'll never find love.
My roommates and I just had a 30 minute conversation about what Hogwarts house we should all be in. Awesome!
Because you don't give us any clues.
Hey! I've got an idea! How about you STFU!
--supplies!"
I got into a fight with a beer bottle tonight ... the beer bottle won.
Naaah, kinky sex is the best
Accusing someone of being jealous is the easiest way to lose all of your credibility, let alone your argument. Brofail.
Frats are so cool. We have the best drugs, stupid fresh clothes, and the sluttiest chicks. Don't be hatin'.
I'm so close to happiness.
Greek system,classiness at its finest
--supplies!"
Today while I was buying books,some kid nearby actually said to his friend "Oh, I need to buy some school
--revamp that includes a new website and logo. The money will be taken from the group's reserve account, which is
My geography professor is a timid combination of Seth Rogen and John C. Reilly.
--revamp that includes a new website and logo. The money will be taken from the group's reserve account, which is
EDITORIAL BOARD
Senate stepping up with new image push
Despite all the work it does,
in the minds of many students,
Student Senate doesn't always
conjure up a positive image, if it
produces any image at all.
Student Senate, under the leadership of President Michael Wade Smith, hopes to change that this semester with a new $4,000 image
Smith
long-term projects.
The new website will be easier to navigate and more interactive. Student Senate is hoping that this change will allow students to have easier access to information on what their senators are doing and what decisions are being made.
This is a step in the right direction for Student Senate, which in the past has at some points seemed disconnected from the student
The new branding also mirrors internal changes which should have the greatest positive effect on relations between senate and students.
population as a whole.
One such change is a new points system in which senators gain points for participating in various activities that make the senators visible to students.
Ultimately, however, no system to promote senate engagement will work unless the student body holds their senators accountable.
While ideally senators would not need point systems to motivate participation, this is still a positive change.
The success of a new year of Student Senate is dependent on an increased sense of responsibility not only by the senators, but also by students. Students need to be writing their senators, whose emails can be found at www.studentsenate.ku.edu, and sharing their thoughts about how to make KU a better place.
Many students participate in and pay attention to national or state politics, as they should, but seem to not give Student Senate much thought. While obviously national
politics affect students in many ways, many of the decisions made by smaller, more local governments affect us even more. Especially those decisions made in the KU community.
Student Senate decides everything from which student groups get money and how much, to what can be done to ensure our safety on campus. These decisions affect us every day in the classroom and in our extracurricular activities on campus. Our senators do a lot to continue the University's strong reputation and they need and deserve a student population who make their wishes and concerns known and hold their representatives accountable.
—Shauna Blackmon for The Kansan Editorial Board
EDITORIAL CARTOON
SPEAK OUT
Contact Student Senate at (785) 864-3710 or stop by Room 410 in the Kansas Union
CULTURE WARS
NICK SAMBALUK
Fighting religious intolerance requires recognizing freedom
A recent outcry against the proposal for construction of a Muslim community center two blocks from New York City's Ground Zero provides insight into the inadequacy of religious tolerance in the United States.
Some claim the uproar is solely about the location of the mosque (which, mind you, is not directly on Ground Zero, but two blocks away). However, this is not the case for many Americans who view Islamic practice anywhere as somehow un-American, as evidenced by the opposition to mosques in communities around the country, including one protested in Murfreesboro, Tenn. (according to CNN.com) and one in Temecula Valley, Cali. (reported by the LA Times).
This intolerance is deeply rooted in an inability of some citizens to fully recognize the constitutional guarantee of freedom of religion.
The fear that such havens of religious practice would inevitably become gathering grounds for Islamic extremists and terrorists is absolutely ridiculous, as is the notion that American Muslims have to undergo constant scrutiny and discrimination because of the crimes of radical terrorists.
The Legal Deal
As John Oliver joked on the Aug. 16 episode of "The Daily Show", this would mean every practitioner of a religion would have to take responsibility for
BY KELLY COSBY kcosby@kansan.com
that religion's "biggest a**holes." I doubt most Christians would take responsibility for Fred Phelps, a sentiment shared by author and pastor Adam Hamilton of Kansas City's Church of the Resurrection.
The fact is, this community center is not meant to be disrespectful to 9/11 victims (many of which were, in fact, Muslim Americans) or even a "symbol of victory" for radical Islamic terrorists.
Besides, how far away would Muslims have to go to build such a community center? If two blocks is not far away enough, is six? Twelve? How about just banning them from New York City? The slippery slope is obvious.
No matter what you think about the "wisdom" of the decision to build the mosque at that location, an issue even President Obama has been vague about, the main point is that there and is should be no legal barrier to the construction of the mosque. Such barrier would violate the constitution.
Freedom of religion means allowing the unrestricted practice of religion as long as it does not interfere with the life or liberty of another citizen. Building a place of Islamic worship on this block of downtown New York City in no way inhibits the inalable rights of American citizens.
Religious practice is not a conditional freedom. To constrain this basic right in the name of national security (or, actually, in the name of misplaced fear and resentment) would go against the very foundation of our country.
If we allow fear to penetrate our minds and create intolerance, we will only be assisting in the erosion of democracy, a destruction desired by our attackers in the first place.
Cosby is an Overland Parkjunior in political science and English.
If you are a student who opposes the building of the community center in New York, please take the time to ask yourself whether you would oppose the building of a similar Islamic center near KU's campus (and keep in mind, one already exists). Be brutally honest to yourself. If that idea troubles you as well, it may be time to reexamine your views of Islam. Coming in to religious tolerance and acceptance is one of the best ways to grow as a person.
HUMOR
A vision of the (dark and disturbing) future
Well, folks, summer is over. And if there's anything the tagline for the film "The Last Song" has taught me, it's that "every summer has a story". My story may not be up there with them Nicholas Sparks novels, but it could make a great "Magic Treehouse" book. That's right, people who get that "Magic Treehouse" reference. This summer I travelle through time.
I traveled to the year 2105 which is 95 years into the future. I, of course, spent my future-time studying what had taken place over the 95 years I had skipped.
Being an American citizen, my first question for my future friends was "did Sandra Bullock ever find true love?" They told me that I could enroll at KU as a Sandra Bullock major, and find out all I needed to know! Although I'm told a Sandra Bullock historian is paid way less than someone with a Ph.D. in the Lohans.
Oh yeah — speaking of crazy ladies — good news, psychos! Sarah Palin was the first woman elected president of the United States in the year 2016. She made history with her own kind of New Deal, which she called Mama Grizzly & Friends. It was actually just a "Hanna-Barbera" cartoon that aired on the weekends. But she did win an annie for her work as Mama Grizzly! Mama Grizzly & Friends aired every time her State of the Union was due.
Lawrence had become a blue spec on the red state Midwest map. Conservatives ran everything from Utah to Tennessee except Lawrence — which they claimed they would let be as long as the Jayhawks kept up the winning basketball
BY CHANCE CARMICHAEL ccarmichael@kansan.com
seasons. The east and west coast had long since been submerged by water. I asked my future friends if it was global warming, and they told me that that was the case even though the red states claim it was just God flushing the toilet.
Well, that's because liberals either moved to Canada or died over the 100 years I had skipped.
They told me that once hovercrafts were inevitably invented most illegal immigrants from Mexico simply hovered over the Redlands as they called them. But that's beside the point. I asked my future friends what the point was - you know, for my column. They told me, "The point is The United States of America was founded by a bunch of dudes who said that it was up to the people to decide how the country should be run, and at one point, those people became the Tea Party, the angry, the uninformed, the intolerant and the ignorant."
And I said, "Oh. Well,
okay. Pass the Future French
Fries." Future French Fries are
genetically engineered potato-snake hybrids deep-fried and
always "delicioussssss!"
Carmichael is a Mulvane junior in film and media studies and journalism.
Chatterbox Responses to the news of the week on Kansan.com
— "Esperanza69420" in response to "Locavores big on food, short on fact" on August 20.
"Andrew, I wonder how much research you actually did for this piece. Local food is as much about sustainability as it is reliability. If you'd talked to any local food vendor or producer as I have, you would know that not only are costs lower, but they feel more comfortable in the product they're receiving- as do their customers."
"Your criticism about petroleum is valid and something that true locavores are well aware of, but you are focusing in on one tiny element of the movement and missing allot of other points. Food that is produced in an industrialized manor (mainstream grocery store food) is dangerous for many reasons."
— "mothernature" in response to "Locavores big on food, short on fact" on August 20.
"It's cheaper, faster, and you don't have to mess with cashing a check. Why wouldn't you want direct deposit? Are you scared banks will steal your federally-insured money?"
—"kujayhawk" in response to "Bursar's office mandates direct deposit" on August 19.
"What is the definition of marriage? Historically and legally it has been the union of one man and one woman, and is done publically due for many cultural reasons, among them are cohabitation and raising a family. So, the term 'gay marriage' is oxymoronical, it literally has no real meaning."
— "Savage" in response to "Court ruling a victory for equal rights" on August 19.
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THE EDITORIAL BOARD Members of the Kansan Editorial Board are Aki Garrison G尼克 Gink, Erin Brown, David Jonathan Joshua and Shaun Blackmon.