Opinion THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2010
PAGE 7A
WWW.KANSAN.COM
FREE FOR ALL
--should show that they do not want their opportunities for education to be compromised.
To contribute to Free for All, visit Kansan.com or call (785) 864-0500.
--should show that they do not want their opportunities for education to be compromised.
Jimmy John's saves lives. Ten minutes is insane.
--should show that they do not want their opportunities for education to be compromised.
Just once I would like to be able to have sex without feeling all emotionally wrapped up in it. Being a guy must be awesome.
I didn't tell you my political views because I'm a satanic anarchist
--should show that they do not want their opportunities for education to be compromised.
I just broke 100 mph in my car. Zoom zoom.
--should show that they do not want their opportunities for education to be compromised.
Love triangles aren't nearly as cool as they sound.
--should show that they do not want their opportunities for education to be compromised.
They're way more practical than love rhombuses, though.
--should show that they do not want their opportunities for education to be compromised.
Fact: If you don't know how to pronounce it, you should not get it pierced.
--should show that they do not want their opportunities for education to be compromised.
I wonder how the crazy guy I met at the hostel who claimed to be an Olympic trainer is doing.
When I grow up, I want a successful recording career like William Shatner.
--should show that they do not want their opportunities for education to be compromised.
You know what Lawrence needs? More potholes.
--should show that they do not want their opportunities for education to be compromised.
I would like to personally thank KU basketball games not only for being awesome, but for also pairing me with potential male suitors.
I love the Olympics.
I'm just not that enthusiastic.
--should show that they do not want their opportunities for education to be compromised.
I love the Lifetime channel.
--should show that they do not want their opportunities for education to be compromised.
Why do girls like hipsters?
--should show that they do not want their opportunities for education to be compromised.
I hate people who change their names on Facebook. That's asking for a friend deletion
--should show that they do not want their opportunities for education to be compromised.
You were the last person I wanted to ask me out. Here's to an interesting day!
--should show that they do not want their opportunities for education to be compromised.
Party foul. Take a lap!
I wonder how many single adults kill themselves from depression on Valentine's Day.
--should show that they do not want their opportunities for education to be compromised.
I'm sorry baby,but I cheated last night.
Did anyone say "Olympics?"
EDITORIAL
Lobby for higher education
Tuesday is Higher Education Day in Topeka, and Student Senate is recruiting students to lobby for increased levels of funding and decreased cuts in budget for state universities. With the amount of budget cuts the University has endured during the past few years, students should be concerned with their academic welfare. This event offers the opportunity to express that concern in a constructive manner.
The poor economic state of the country is a major issue in state funding. But cutting the budget of universities only hinders the ability of institutions to provide quality educations for students. As our own chancellor has acknowledged, society benefits when students receive a proper education. The need for budget cuts is understandable, but education is not where these cuts should be made.
The University has suffered a loss of $37.3 million in budget cuts and mandates and has had to eliminate over 200 positions. These losses hurt the University, students and the state.
When the University is forced to make cuts to staff, students are not only deprived of insightful educators, but also must deal with larger class sizes. What's more, the state loses money from these former state-employed taxpayers; consequentially, the more budget cuts continue to pile up. Students
During the Fall 2009 semester, the University saw its second-highest enrollment ever, surpassing the 30,000-student mark for the second consecutive year. With record-setting enrollment, clearly the demand for quality education is there. Budget cuts hurt not only these eager students, but also the communities they would return home to support with their college degrees. Therefore, it is ridiculous to cut the budget of an entity that truly contributes to the well being of every citizen.
As a public university, a portion of the taxes paid by the citizens of Kansas goes toward funding the University. Kansas' citizens and students should let the state know that they want their money to go toward higher education.
The University has made efforts to capitalize on the Recovery Act, a statewide plan to spur economic growth. The University has also made use of private funds and research dollars. But these funds are simply not enough to support our growing institution.
State funding is essential to the success of the University. Students need to understand that they suffer from a lack of funding. There is no reason to allow these cuts to occur. The Higher Education Day events in Topeka offer students the
opportunity to rally and express their opinions on cuts to education funding.
Students who participate this Tuesday will be put into groups of three or four and will sit in with a team leader and a legislator to discuss how budget cuts are negatively affecting the University.
Student Senate is holding lobby training at 2 p.m. today in the Student Senate conference room at the Kansas Union. Students who wish to participate should attend this meeting for more information.
Students who cannot attend Tuesday's meeting still have opportunities that they should utilize to show their disapproval of budget cuts. Michael Wade Smith, the legislative director of Student Senate, said that groups meet every week to lobby. Student Senate is also organizing a letter writing campaign.
By lobbying on Tuesday students can and should show the state that they do not approve of the cuts made to the University or of any additional cuts.
To get involved on Tuesday,
e-mail student senator Michael
Wade Smith at slab@ku.edu and
let him know when you are avail-
able between 8 a.m. and 2 p.m.
EDITORIAL CARTOON
Kate Larrabee for The Kansan Editorial Board
AROOJ KHALID
POLITICS
War on Terror won at American gas pumps
After reports this month of U.S. soldier deaths in Pakistan and the revelation that more than 200 ground troops are operating there, America has seemingly embroiled itself in a three-front war against terrorism. Many have failed to realize, however, that the greatest blow we can strike against Islamic extremism can be done at home by cutting our dependence on foreign oil and building a clean-energy economy
We are not at war with a people, nation or religion, but rather a specific ideology. The fundamentalist Salafi theology has spread out from Saudi Arabia, with the help of that regime's massive oil revenues. It is the petrodollars of the Wahabi ruling family that proselytized the ideological justifications for the actions of al-Qaida across the Gulf and into North Africa and Central Asia.
Key to the financial resources of fundamentalist sects is the oil wealth of those funding the organizations. A hefty sum of this money supports Salafi schools and the radical imams that preach messages like the one that drives al-Qaida fighters. Large amounts of
The new energy economy would increase American soft power as well as weaken the grip of oppressive regimes in the oil states. These are both important steps in fighting terrorism.
Political Planet
the fighters and arms flowing into Iraq and Afghanistan come from Saudi Arabia and Iran, backed in some way by oil money.
This is also related to what author Thomas Friedman calls "The First Law of Petropolitics." That is, in oil-reliant states, when the price of oil goes up, freedoms like those we enjoy in the U.S. tend to decline. Essentially, when tight-fisted regimes like Saudi Arabia, Iran and now Russia, only have to rely on oil revenues as state income, they lose accountability. Consequently, ideas of freedom and democracy fall by the wayside.
BY DEVIN LOWELL
It is no secret that much of America's soft power deteriorated during the Bush administration. However, a surefire way to regain much of what we lost and to combat extremism simultaneously is eliminate our dependence on foreign oil and build a new, clean-energy economy.
We can do this by putting a price on carbon emissions in the
U. S., through a cap-and-trade system or a carbon tax. We should also reinvest that money in grants and loans for the design, development and manufacture of new energy technologies, such as wind turbines, solar panels and plug-in hybrids. Along with this, stricter fuel efficiency standards will also be needed.
Now, it was neither the Democrats nor the Republicans who got us into this tangled web of oil, consumption and terrorism. The problem is a generational one. It was the lack of responsibility by the Baby Boomers that plowed forward into borrowing billions from China to buy oil from Saudi Arabia, to build McMansions further and further into the exurbs and to plunge into a several-trillion-dollar war.
It is the responsibility of our generation to bring back a common sense ethic of pragmatism, innovation, and responsibility. By making America cleaner and greener, we will make it stronger and strike a great blow at the heart (and bank accounts) of extremism.
Lowell is a senior from Concordia in political science and journalism.
MEDIA ISSUES
The ethos of today's logos
When the Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team made its run to the national championship last year, it did so with an outdated logo. At least, that's the claim of Nike and members of the MSU administration in the recent redesign of the Spartan.
The old Brawny paper towel man, perhaps best known for his unnatural golden hair and straight out of a Brett Favre Wrangler commercial denim flannel, now has black hair and a stronger appearance. I can only imagine the presumed heated debate that took place inside the Brawny marketing department when developing this new logo. I understand that a company needs to adapt with the changing times, but hiring an ex-lumberjack on steroids seems better suited for a late-night monologue than a paper towel marketing campaign.
The new logo, featuring an extended jaw line and sleek, narrow eyelids, has angered many MSU students and alumni by departing from the logo that has been in use for 30 years.
MSU's decision to update its logo comes just three years after our own university received criticism for adapting the Trajan font for the school's uniforms. The new Jayhawk font is solidified into University proceedings, but it is just one of several recent changes to long-standing logos.
Pepsi unveiled a new logo consisting of a larger strip for the white intermediary between the red and blue components on thelogo's circle. It's hard to get excited about that description, but I don't fault the company for trying to do something different and more modern looking.
That Guy
In another example, the Sun-Maid Raisins box has sported a bonnet-clad lady on its logo since the early part of the 20th century. But a visit to its website reveals a newer, more tan, younger woman holding up a collection of grapes.
BY TRENT BOULTINGHOUSE
What do all these updates mean? In the current economy, many businesses are trying anything they can to retain and bring in new customers, which usually involves a logo change. It seems the Quaker Oats man is running on borrowed time.
But the reality is that a new logo doesn't necessarily improve the product's standing. Take Tropicana orange juice: After seeing a newer, but more generic logo on new orange juice bottles, customers became so outraged that they flooded Tropicana's offices with complaints. Tropicana quickly returned to its old logo.
On the flip side are veteran products that have stood the test of decades in the market. There's a hidden element of superior quality when a product's 2010 logo is the same (or similar) to its 1930 one. Take for example Coca-Cola, which could be famous more for its distinguished font than the soda itself.
The sports equivalent of this logo nostalgia is the New York Yankees' famous "NY" on its apparel. Something tells me it wouldn't be the best marketing strategy to redesign either of these companies' logos.
When analyzing logos, it's important to realize that the actual product is the only thing that really matters. But still, when torn between two similar products, the benefit of the doubt goes to the one with the better logo.
Boultinghouse is a sophomore from Girard in history and journalism.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
In this letter I will attempt to accomplish what Chet Compton failed to do in his article "Scientific skepticism key in good politics": Write a balanced article supported by reason and substantial evidence.
Mr. Compton's thesis seems to be that global warming is a "hoax" perpetrated by liberal ideologues hell-bent on raising taxes, regulating corporations, instigating class warfare, and "denominizing evil capitalism." oh my! However, as Carl Sagan famously remarked, "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence."
No such evidence is to be found in Mr. Compton's article.
Mr. Compton begins his article by creating a false controversy: He claims that "environmental issues are among the most polarizing in American politics today," and follows this with a list of "scandal's, which supposedly disprove the mountains of evidence supporting the theory of global warming. Creating a false controversy is a stale tactic that aims to grant legitimacy to otherwise baseless claims and has been used rather unsuccessfully by the intelligent
After a four-paragraph partisan rant not worth mentioning extensively here, Mr. Compton calls on Republicans to take up the "slam-dunk" issue of the supposed global warming "hoax." This may be one issue that he and I agree upon, because if the Republicans openly support the far-right global warming deniers movement, they are sure to lose the vote of every reasonable person in the Union.
Alexander Golubski is a junior from Lenexa.
In his thorough review of the science of global warming, Mr. Compton mentions only the "Climategate" e-mail incident and the IPCC's most recent report on diminishing glaciers, while failing to mention the 2007 United Nations IPCC's Nobel Prize-winning Fourth Assessment Report on the issue. The two incidents that Mr. Compton does mention address only a few minor points, are completely over-hyped, and do nothing to discredit the vast body of evidence assembled in the 2007 IPCC report and other reputable scientific journals.
design movement.
HOW TO SUBMIT A LETTER TO THE EDITOR
LETTER GUIDELINES
Send letters to *opinion.kansan.com*
Write **LETTER TO THE EDITOR** in the e-mail subject line.
Length: 300 words
Find our full letter to the editor policy online at kamsan.com/letters.
The submission should include the author's name, grade and hometown.
-
CONTACT US
Stephen Montemayor, editor
864-4810 or smontemayor@kansan.com
Brianne Pfannenstiel, managing editor
864-4810 or bpfannenstiel@kansan.com
Jennifer Torline, managing editor 864-4810 or itorline@kansan.com
Lauren Cunningham, kansan.com managing editor 864-4810 or lcunningham@kansan.com
Vicky Lu, KUJH-TV managing editor 864-4810 or ulu@kujan.com
Emily McCoy, opinion editor 864-4924 or emccoy@kansan.com
Cassie Gerken, business manager
864-4358 or caerken@kansan.com
Malcolm Gibson, general manager a
Carolyn Battle, sales manager
864-4477 or cbattle@kansan.com
Kate Larrabee, editorial editor 864-4924 or klarrabee@kansan.com
Malcolm Gibson, general manager and news adviser
Jon Schlitt, sales and marketing adviser
864-7666 or ichitkiksikanan.com
THE EDITORIAL BOARD
Members of the Kanisan Editorial Board are Stephen Montermayo, Brian Plantmanet, Jennifer Torner, Lauren Cunningham, Wicky Lu, Emily McCoy, Lisa Lareabee, James Casten, William Cunningham, Stefane Pennin and Pennin Thorburnhill.