WEDNESDAY, MARCH 9, 2011
PAGE 5A
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
opinion
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I just got cold looking at you. Put some pants and a sweatshirt on
You're actually telling people not to celebrate Mardi Gras? What are you, a Nazi?
I got poured on during my walk to class and had to sit through three classes with swamp ass.
Attention to all of you who have all three: MacBook, iPad and iPhone, y'a'll are iWhores.
How does a Macbook fit in there,
aside from the brand - it's not part of
the 'i' category... That would be a
Netbook.
Ladies and gentlemen... If you are not happy with your significant other, then please break-up with them instead of constantly complaining. If you don't have the balls to break up with someone, then you don't deserve to be happy.
I'll celebrate every holiday I wanna and any one I wanna. I live in America for a reason.
No matter what your Chinese symbol tattoo says, I'm going to assume the translation is: "Please think I'm cool."
I just finished paper mache-ing a balloon and it's 1:22 a.m. WTF? WHY AM I ON COLLEGE?
"It was less embarrassing when he was high," Martin Sheen.
FFA suddenly got a conscience? What kind of bullshit is this?
I found a set of balls in my girlfriend's purse today.
Falling down the stairs drunk is absolutely no fun for anyone. I know from experience. So do my stairs.
Dude seriously go for what you want.
Just make sure you're on your level.
It's Monday, and I am getting drunk while doing laundry. Talk about multi-tasking.
I think she means level of hotness. But clearly this also includes intelligence.
What green beer will you drink on St Patty's Day?
I apologize to everyone in my classes for my ridiculous amount of very loud nose blowing. I can't help it!
EDITORIAL
Since I turn 21 in the fall, I'm living somewhere cheaper next year to accommodate my drinking habits.
Stop Phelps' rhetoric; start ignoring his message
Take a shower; your attitude stinks.
Phelps' Westboro Baptist Church – known across the nation for its antihomosexual rhetoric – has once again found the national spotlight after the Supreme Court voted 8-1 to protect its right to protest at military funerals.
Applying for the Charlie Sheen social media internship was the most productive thing I did all month.
Save water; shower with a friend!
While this result has sparked debate regarding the ethics of free speech, it has also brought national attention to the Phelps family and its hateful messages.
Little can be accomplished in publicly criticizing the church and its message. Kansans must realize that attempting to denounce the Phelps family only works to bring attention to the family and its rhetoric.
While angrily criticizing the Westboro Baptist Church is a natural step for most concerned and offended citizens, all of the negative emotions it provokes within us subsequently give
By design, the public behavior displayed by the Phelps family seeks to draw local and national attention. For this, the Phelpes have achieved tremendous success.
it the very thing it desires most: the spotlight.
of anger and hate, and responding to it with such emotions only gives it the attention it seeks.
Their hateful words alone are not what brings them such fame; rather, it is the angry responses of offended citizens that put the Westboro Baptist Church in the headlines time and time again. While many well-meaning people may attempt to publicly condemn the church in an effort to silence its rhetoric, these efforts only make it clear to the Phelps family that its actions are making an impact and are thus, in minds of its members, justified.
If Kansans want the members of the church to be silenced, then they must first cease acknowledging their
The Supreme Court has decided that the Phelps family has a right to its hateful speech, but it is important to remember that we also have a right to not listen.
If the citizens of Kansas wish for the Westboro Baptist Church to stop bringing shame and disrespect to their state, then they should stop acknowledging the hateful language of its members.
Spencer Davidson for the Kansan Editorial Board.
efforts to gain attention. Language can be powerful if it is skillfully used, and it can be destructive when used for malevolent and bigoted purposes.
But words only have power if other people listen to them; the absence of an audience drains language of all its power, no matter how loud and vicious it is in nature.
Much akin to the mannerisms of a screaming child in the throes of a tantrum, the Phelps family desires our attention and has obtained it through clamorous and obnoxious behavior that is difficult to ignore.
Those who have been hurt and ridiculed by the church are rightfully justified in their moral outrage and their desire to silence the church's hateful message, but confrontation only fuels the flames of hatred. The Phelps family works to provoke an endless cycle
ECONOMY
Corporate tax avoidance one cause of shortfalls
How much money do you have in your wallet?
No matter how much - or how little - it's more than General Electric, ExxonMobil, Citibank and the Bank of America pay in taxes, according to Carl Gibson, founder of US Uncut.
Cutting services to vulnerable groups in the name of deficit reduction is both immoral and inefficient. There are other options for solving the budget and economy crises we're in, and I want to look into one of the big ones - corporate tax avoidance.
The Government Accountability Office, "an independent, nonpartisan agency that works for Congress," said that nearly two-thirds of U.S. companies pay no federal taxes. They make enormous sums of money within the U.S. and give back nothing to the federal government. This results in hundreds of billions of dollars in lost revenue.
How do they do this? The answers are complicated. Sometimes corporations will say one individual made a profit but it wasn't related to the company, or they'll keep their money offshore, or they will keep an office in another country and declare themselves to be a multinational corporation, or they manipulate their numbers in other ways to make it look as if there was no profit.
Even if we weren't facing these difficult economic times, corporate tax avoidances would still be ethically wrong. Corporations have the privilege of selling here, making profits and writing off employee health insurance, and they are able to donate to political campaigns.
The government even balled out some of these companies.
As Johann Hari of UK Uncut said, they also enjoy the same basic benefits of regular taxpayers; streets, police and garbage collection. Except for taxpayers, these aren't really benefits. Taxpayers work and pay for these services.
BY ALI FREE afree@kansan.com
Corporations don't pay for any of it.
This is not fair. There are billions of dollars in uncollected taxes, and that has consequences.
The American people deserve to keep our poison control centers and maternal health grants. People deserve arts programs and PBS. People deserve schools that are open. People deserve the security of their food stamps and Medicaid and unemployment insurance, especially in these tough times. We deserve to do what we can for ourselves and know that the government will do what we can't alone.
Though Congress and Obama want to cut funding for social services, the public doesn't. This is because the public uses these programs. Indeed, polls such as the one from "60 Minutes" and Vanity Fair show that the most popular solution to the economy was to increase taxes on the rich, which can be translated into corporations.
If Congress and the White House really want to save the economy, ensure fairness and give the public what they are owed, they will listen to their constituents and focus on the missing cash from the federal budget that should already be there. Then they can see how big of a budget shortfall exists.
It's ludicrous that defending public health programs is the first solution that occurs to our politicians.
Free is a sophomore in women's studies from Blue Springs, Mo.
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CULTURE
In an interview with USA Today, Starbucks CEO, Howard Schultz was asked to describe his company 40 years from now. He said, "In 40 years, the core of our mission will still be about achieving that fragile balance between profitability and social conscience. Without the latter, the former is unsustainable."
Green-washing marks good start for companies
In so many ways and a thousand times a day, media are telling us what to value, and increasingly that message has been centered on social and environmental responsibility. It's true that in some cases companies are green-washing. They are making environmental claims that aren't completely accurate.
In the grand scheme of things, is this really a horrible message to send?
However, it could be argued that these messages are still beneficial, that this new focus on respecting our natural resources and recognizing our place in a global citizenship is changing the way that we think about our world.
While this may be a valid critique, the fact is that Nooyi had approximately 15 minutes to make an impression on millions of TED viewers around the world, and she chose to speak about Pepsi's commitment to positive social change.
Last week, Indra Nooyi, chairwoman and CEO of PepsiCo, spoke at the TED Conference. Nooyi used her time on the TED stage to tour her company's Performance with Purpose and Pepsi Refresh programs. These programs are designed to highlight Pepsi's commitment to environmental stewardship and support for non-profit organizations. Nooyi's talk has been criticized for highlighting the $20 million Pepsi donated to local non-profit and community organizations but failing to address major issues like water scarcity and plastic waste pollution.
this really a horrible message to send.
In a society over-run by consumerism, diseased by stress and isolated from community, we need as many positive messages as we can get. The
BY RAEANN HANDSHY
rhandshv@kansan.com
These statements about what we should be valuing as individuals and as a community are gradually creating a new set of standards for health, safety and environmental issues.
While some messages may be misguided or exaggerated, the priorities they communicate are sinking into our psyche and changing the way we value life. This revolution of thought and values is slow but every commercial, magazine, ad and newspaper article that promotes values of equality, respect, compassion and responsibility makes a tiny impression.
more committed our corporations are to expressing value for real people and our planet, the more our collective mindset shifts.
Our values are shifting and although their execution may not be perfect, corporate messages of responsibility are helping to transform our society.
While transparency is necessary for a truly sustainable marketplace and legitimate efforts must be made to affect real change, this initial priority shift is a necessary first step
Consumers who value social and environmental accountability will expose the green-washers. A society that values human rights over the latest fashion will determine responsible supply chains and educated moms who demand safe toys will influence industry production methods.
Handshy is a first year MBA student from Lawrence.
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THE EDITORIAL BOARD
Members of the Kansan Editorial Board are Nick Gerik, Michael Holtz, Kelly Stroda, D.M. Scott and Mandy Maatney.