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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.
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2009
Buser: Tanning remains a dangerous addiction
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My RA is in the hall making noise after quiet hours. Awesome
I think I'm having an appendicitis.
--and would be hard to enforce.
I want mashed potatoes.
I want to know why some buildings have the girls and boys bathrooms on separate floors. It's just stupid.
--and would be hard to enforce.
Who doesn't like to have snuggly-Snuggie sex? C'mon.
It makes me uncomfortable when my dog watches me poop.
--and would be hard to enforce.
Why is it so hard to find a bathroom in Lindley?
I want a baby.
I need to track down "Harry Potter" or "Twilight" party supplies by tomorrow, and Party America doesn't have any. Suggestions?
--and would be hard to enforce.
I just ate half a chocolate bar with such intensity and fierceness that people probably thought I had seen a Dementor.
4,000 miles from Kansas = 4,000 miles from heaven.
Dear roommate, I found this common sense lying on the ground outside. Is it yours?
I don't spoon. I ladle.
I'm not shaving this week unless I know I'm going to get laid.
Does anyone want a real "Mario Kart" challenger? Because I've yet to find a man who can beat me!
My imagination is running wild with all the sex we're gonna have in the future.
This weather is making it really hard for me to keep going to class.
--and would be hard to enforce.
She is like an iPod: I want to touch her to turn her on.
This wet and cold thing is not going to work. We all know men like it wet and warm.
There's a party in the USA and you're not invited.
--and would be hard to enforce.
EDITORIAL BOARD
In order to curb the dangerous practice of texting and driving, the Kansas Legislature should pass a law with a reasonable fine as the penalty instead of leaving the decision up to the individual discretion of each police officer.
Students shouldn't text and drive
A lot of people think drive safely while texting," Sgt. Michael Monroe said in a Nov.
9 Kansan news story.
"And that's simply not the truth. Even if it's just for a few seconds, those few seconds can nufreely be."
"A lot of people think they can
Right now, police in Kansas cannot pull someone over for texting alone.
If texting is found to be the cause of a traffic accident, the officer can write a ticket for inattentive driving.
Also, if someone is pulled over for another reason and is discovered to have been texting while driving, then officers may elect to write a ticket, but this does not directly address the issue
This is not enough of a deterrent to stop texting.
A law going into effect in January will prohibit those with a learner's permit or other restricted license from operating cell phones or text-messaging devices while driving until six months after they turn 16.
A ban for young and
The punishment shouldn't be extreme, but strong enough that drivers will think twice before texting and drving.
inexperienced drivers is a good idea, but even older, experienced drivers should be deterred from driving distracted.
Repeat offenders should be at risk of losing their licenses for endangering other drivers. However, a law shouldn't be necessary for students to start acting more responsibly.
Critics of these laws say it's government intruding into the personal lives of citizens.
If texting while driving only endangered oneself, if it were a victimless crime, then it could be argued that the government
was overstepping its bounds. But the facts are that texting while driving not only endangers oneself but everyone else on the road. A 2003 University of Utah study found it to be as impairing as drunk driving.
Drivers owe it to themselves, to their passengers, to pedestrians and to other drivers sharing the road to be a responsible driver. Feeling that the "right to drive distracted" is more important than the safety of others is not only dangerous, it's selfish. How many text messages are truly worth risking a deadly car accident?
No one wants to get a fine for doing what they have been doing for years without a problem. However, a preventative action should be taken to ensure nothing does occur.
When texting and driving is putting other drivers in harm's way, a specific law with a fine for a consequence should be a welcome alternative to an irreversible tragedy.
— Clayton Ashley for The Kansan Editorial Board
EDITORIAL CARTOON
NICHOLAS SAMBALUK
SCIENCE
Don't 'believe' in evolution
Next Tuesday is the 150th anniversary of the publication of Charles Darwin's revolutionary book "On the Origin of Species." This will celebrate 150 years of dynamic scientific research following Darwin's original theory, improving our understanding of the role of evolution in creating the diversity of life on earth.
It also reflects the concurrent dissatisfaction and controversy that has accompanied Darwin's theory throughout history. Although many still dispute evolution as either factually incorrect or morally reprehensible for religious reasons, Darwin's theory of evolution is purely a scientific proposition, entirely exclusive and non-intrusive upon religious ideas.
This month, however, the Christian ministry Living Waters, headed by Ray Comfort, has promised to distribute more than 100,000 "altered" copies of the book to college campuses around the country. Each of these reprinted editions will contain a 50-page introduction promoting intelligent design and refuting the theory of evolution explained by Darwin. This introduction attacks the modern evidence for evolution beyond the scope of Darwin's investigations, such as genetics and transitional fossils, but then descends into a full-fledged attack
It paints Darwin — and by association, his theory — as a racist and sexist, and even asserts that Adolf Hitler was Darwin's "famous student." Although none of these personal attacks have any scientific bearing on the theory of evolution, they do showcase the profound controversy between religion and evolution that has persisted now for 150 years.
on Darwin's character.
Do you believe in evolution? I don't, and neither should you. The question itself is flawed. Evolution is not something one "believes" in. One does not have to have faith in evolution, let alone any scientific concept, in order for it to be true. Constructing evolution as an idea that must be "believed" forces it be stagnant, unscintific and anti-religious. This is the root of why evolution and religion have clashed so harshly for more than a century
Do you accept evolution? I do, and so should you. It is essential to understand that evolution is the best model for the history and
After enduring 150 years of fierce criticism and relentless attempts at falsification by scientists, Darwin's idea of evolution has itself evolved into a stronger, more fit theory.
The opponents of evolution often describe proponents as Darwinists who unquestionably follow the doctrine of "On the Origin of Species." This caricature is a tactic that makes the scientists look like ideological servants to Darwin, but scientists themselves have proven to be the most critical of Darwin's theory. Darwin would barely recognize the modern theory of evolution constructed today. During Darwin's time, there was no knowledge of genetic variation or mutation, and the fossil record was sparse.
diversity of life on this planet. It is a testable, scientific proposition that can be supported or disproven by further evidence. This distinction between belief and acceptance may seem superficial, but it highlights the fact that scientists studying evolution are not researching to justify their own beliefs. We all pursue the truth when it comes to this all-compassing idea for the nature of life on earth.
Folmsbee is a Topeka senior in neurobiology.
POLITICS
No room for racial profiling
Tragedy is strategy. In high school, when I was merely a left-leaning blabber (ranks aren't really good until they alliterate), I used this slightly clever line in a song I entered in a newspaper contest to criticize President George W. Bush. Sadly, I've been seeing it play out quite a lot recently.
A few days after the shooting, I was in New York City for an event sponsored by the Jewish organization Chabad. There I got to listen to a speaker named Molly Resnick, an Israeli journalist who spent time working for NBC. At some point, she brought up the shooting, and began spouting off on how it would have been avoided if the military had just racially profiled Hasan a little bit more.
Sadly, the inevitable happened shortly after. People took a quick look at the shooter, heard his name and decided immediately that he was an Islamic terrorist looking to bring down the Great Satan from within. There was no consideration for the fact that he was an accomplished military doctor and held the rank of major. No attempt to look at his background, beyond his religion, and see if there had been some personal factor that caused him to snap, as tends to happen with the people who make the decision to commit such heinous acts.
Two weeks ago, a military psychiatrist named Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan opened fire on Fort Hood, the base he was stationed at in Texas. Several people were killed or wounded, and the nation was left shaking its head, wondering what had happened.
Apparently he occasionally gave people on the base Qurans. This is a terrible controversy, as no member of the armed forces has ever been exposed to a religion, ever. And he had looked at radical Islamic Web sites at some point, which nobody in
the military, let alone somebody with a background in the study of somebody's mental state, ever does. If you add these things up with the fact that he is a Muslim, that means they should have known he was a terrorist all along.
That's right, a bloody rampage was actually a victory for racial profiling. It was also an opportunity for Rush Limbaugh to claim that Hasan was an adviser to President Barack Obama during his campaign, but he never explained where that came from. Also, I'm convinced that Limbaugh's program is actually an elaborate piece of performance art, but I digress.
The attitude that being just a little more bigoted can prevent acts of violence has been problematic in our society for years. Racial profiling has been one of the most egregious problems with law enforcement for as long as I can remember, and even when laws are passed to try and cut back on it, it never seems to disappear completely.
Hasan is a monster for what he did, sure enough. He is a murderer and should be punished for his actions. That's the thing, though. They are his actions, and no one else's. That he was a Muslim, or a member of any minority group for that matter, should not be seen as relevant to the shooting until it has been thoroughly investigated and proven to be a factor. Anything else is a knee-jerk reaction, and a regressive one at that.
Cohen is a Topeka senior in political science.
Health care in France
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
To the 308 million Americans it concerns;
For the last three months I've lived in Paris while participating in an internship program for the School of Architecture. Nearly every day since I began, the sound of an ambulance blaring down Avenue Daumesnil outside my room wakes me up before my alarm does. After first wishing that somebody's medical emergency could have waited another 45 minutes, I begin thinking about the fierce health care debate back home.
I can't say I closely examine every new headline on health care, but I do my best to keep up. And it puzzles me, to say the least, to hear politicians such as Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) and comedians such as Glenn Beck suggest that the U.S. boasts the greatest health care system in the world. That's arrogant talk when representing a country that ranks 50th overall in life expectancy. I would just as soon believe someone who tried to convince me that Utah State is better than
my Jayhawks at basketball.
Furthermore, the French government is even so kind as to provide me health care for being a legal resident. Last time I checked, private insurance companies in America are not that generous.
I've heard the criticisms of socialist health care systems: bad doctors and slow treatment. Here I see no evidence of it. Perhaps it's better wine or more potent espresso, but there are millions of happy and healthy people buzzing about Paris, there are no lines of people waiting to get treatment outside hospitals and my morning ambulance serenade proves that those in need of immediate care get it.
Call it a public option or call it socialism, the statistics don't lie: People here live longer. In France, life expectancy is 81 years old, in the U.S. — 78. Let's change this system first, then our elected officials will have an extra three years to fight about it.
Nick Allen is a senior from Boulder, Colo.
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