Opinion - The Daily Cardinal

With a focus on education and rehabilitation, recidivism and incarceration rates will fall.

OPINION

Altering the course of mass incarceration

By Ben Miller | Sep. 16, 2015

Hank Green, a famous blogger and vlogger on Youtube, once stated regarding incarceration, “We send people to prison to be punished, and to prevent them from doing bad things again, and to deter others from breaking the law. Punishment, corrections and deterrence.” Each aspect of this three-fold system must be effective and all aspects must work in unison to create an efficient institution against crime. This does not necessarily mean that each aspect must be equal in how it is emphasized, leading to the question of which should be emphasized and how we go about doing so to provide the maximum level of utility to society.

OPINION

Letter to the Editor: Cancer treatments can be overly costly

By Joel Zinberg | Sep. 15, 2015

In a recent, much noted article, more than 100 prominent oncologists complained that the high cost of new cancer drugs — in excess of $100,000 per treatment — makes them unaffordable for patients. They suggest the imposition of “fair” prices.

OPINION

Let our student leaders pave the way in personal growth

By Sergey Fedossov | Sep. 14, 2015

To label Wisconsin as anything other than a party school is considered a slight to most Badgers. A year after taking my nervous first steps onto this campus, I’m still trying to wrap my head around how, in all my hours of research and determination on what university would be my home for the next four years, I skipped over this glaring detail. I got caught up in the trees of fantastic programs such as student research, Badger athletic programs, and the Wisconsin Idea, that I failed to notice the actual forest of student life on campus. Within this year, I continue to struggle reconciling my perceived image of Wisconsin and what it actually wound up being like, as well as reconciling scholastics and the heavy social aspect on here on campus.

Cambridge townsfolk gather in welcoming Syrian and other Middle Eastern refugees, to show their disapproval toward the British government's response to the current refugee crisis.

OPINION

Syria's refugees seeking hope in Europe

By Daily Cardinal Staff and Hae Rin Lee | Sep. 14, 2015

The crisis of Syrian migrants is one of the hottest potatoes in the media bucket today throughout the world. We wonder and worry about this particular phenomenon–what could be the outcome of this exodus? What forced these civilians to roam so far? Is there anything we can do for them? How should we handle the situation?

OPINION

Arguments against drug legalization fail

By Tim Heinzel | Sep. 13, 2015

The so-called “War on Drugs” has been a failure ever since it was implemented. Criminalizing the possession and distribution of drugs is contrary to fundamental individual rights, like the right to exercise control over one’s own body and the right to voluntarily trade with others.

Cars headed west down University Avenue at the intersection of Park Street and University Avenue under long exposure, taken from the pedestrian footbridge.

OPINION

The case for traveling in your twenties

By Sergey Fedossov and Mary Chen | Sep. 9, 2015

I may be not much of a spiritual person, but one of the most profound experiences of my life was behind the wheel of a 1999 Toyota Highlander on the road from Madison to Florida for spring break. In a 24-hour period, I spent half that time behind the wheel, and the rest talking to my fellow passengers, bickering with other members of our collegiate caravan or attempting to get some uncomfortable sleep. We made the return trip about five days later, with similar distributions of fitful rest and bloodshot-eyed driving.

OPINION

Letter to the editor: “Deez Nuts” uses satire to expose issues in the electoral system

By Lucas Deruyter | Sep. 9, 2015

As you may have heard, a fifteen year old in Iowa is running for president under the pseudonym “Deez Nuts”. While he is not able to legally become president of the United States, the candidate is doing better than most independent candidates in recent memory and is showing an eight percent favorability rating in his home state of Iowa. While many find Deez Nuts to be a mockery of the electoral process, I personally believe that Deez Nuts is good for America. I believe this because I have a sense of humor, and because Deez Nuts exemplifies the dilapidated and pitiable state of America’s primary election system.

CAMPUS NEWS

Considering sexual assault: an odyssey

By Max Lenz | Sep. 8, 2015

All I wanted was a bunch of cheap tacos. That’s why I went to Chaser’s that night. Not to get drunk, not even to have fun, just for mildly good, cheap food. And up until right before I walked out I was successful in that endeavor. But then he did it. Some guy who I will never know, never be able to confront, never be able to pick out of a crowd, grabbed my girlfriend’s butt. I became immediately anxious, confused and enraged, unsure of where my emotions were or where they were taking me. I looked to her and yelled, “Who did this?” The bar, however, was too crowded for even her to identify the man who had violated her. Probably prompted by the look of shock on my face, she leaned in and said, over the noise, “this kind of stuff happens all the time.”

OPINION

Birkenstock sandals: timeless or terrible?

By Sergey Fedossov and By Rachel Schulze | Sep. 7, 2015

As long as fashion trends have existed, there have been movements that took hold of the general public that are looked back upon with embarrassed laughter. Those who never partook in things like bell-bottoms and Ed Hardy smugly affirmed their biases against them when they fell from grace, and everyone moved on with their lives. Today, that stupid fashion trend is Birkenstock sandals, and I will be the one calling them for what they are—ugly, childish and highly overrated, to say the least. Let me take you on a journey where I describe what’s wrong with these overhyped crimes against humanity.

OPINION

Letter to the Editor: How we forgot about the arts

By Anna Mills | Sep. 7, 2015

Ever since the majority of us were little, our parents and elementary school teachers would fill our minds with the phrase “everybody is important As we grew into functioning teenagers and acquired aspirations of our own, these three words were lost as reality became more prevalent in our lives. Students of all ages can attest that there are definitive cliques that are often determined by natural talent. These athletic, academic and artistic groups often compete for a sense of fulfillment and purpose in society.

OPINION

Letter to the Editor: Clinton is still feeling the effects of her email scandal

By Kevin Rennie | Sep. 1, 2015

Given 100 guesses as the year began on how Hillary Clinton might transform her second presidential campaign from coronation into catastrophe, a furtive home-brew email network would not have been one of them. The shadowy operation is unsettling on its own. The former secretary of state put herself in the center of a deadly minefield each time she used her secret email account to conduct official business.

OPINION

The notorious 'dad bod': revisited

By Kelly Kallien and Sergey Fedossov | Sep. 1, 2015

Nothing manages to draw as many chuckles as it does frowns as the infamous ‘dad bod.’ Quietly entering the lexicon of college students everywhere last year, it is used to describe a blanket body-type that bridges the gap between the guy with a beer gut who discovered the gym a few months back. The idea of the dad bod is a fun topic of debate at parties, and it seems like I hear a new reason to love it or hate it every time the term comes up. Now that the steam behind a new member of the repertoire of college slang has died down, I felt the time was ripe to finally take a critical look at this phenomenon.

OPINION

Political correctness should be championed, not attacked

By Sergey Fedossov | Jul. 16, 2015

Think back to the last time somebody said or did something that got under your skin. Whether they did it intentionally or unintentionally, it happened, and it got your blood boiling. Now, I want you to imagine that, no matter how scathing or hurtful whatever that person said or did to you, it’s no longer okay for you to be upset by it. You can have a straw to suck it up. This is the reality people who don’t goose-step to the beat of the conservative drum must face, and it needs to change.

OPINION

Sift and winnow on your UW journey

By Jim Dayton and Emily Gerber | Jul. 16, 2015

After all the AP exams taken, cover letters written and applications filled out, you’ve finally made it here to the University of Wisconsin. Welcome!

OPINION

Letter to the Editor: Bernie Sanders could give Hillary a run for her money

By Heather Heggemeier and Benjamin Rangel | Jun. 15, 2015

There is some irony in the fact that the most progressive candidate in the 2016 presidential race is a 73-year-old white Jewish male. Yet Bernie Sanders, the self-described Socialist Democrat from Vermont, can make the race for president very interesting.

OPINION

Welcome to college: Get ready to fight

By Max Lenz | Jun. 15, 2015

Congratulations. If you’re reading this you’re probably a brand new Badger. What an exciting time for you! You’re at SOAR, about to meet a bunch of new friends, register for classes for the first time and not that long from now you’ll be moving into your residence hall. Yes, it is a thrilling time indeed.

CAMPUS NEWS

Parting thoughts: Well those were just, like, my opinions, man

By Sam Morgan and Cullen Voss | May. 4, 2015

The end is near. Doomsday prophecies aside, the school year is nearly complete and for a lot of Badgers, myself included, it means our time in college is nearly over as well. Compared to the life ahead of us, college is but a small fraction of time. As short as it seemed, it has been one hell of a trip and one that will have a profound impact on me for the rest of my life. More than the friendships, classes, parties and Union Terrace, college is a remarkable opportunity to challenge yourself and in so doing, discover your potential.

OPINION

Handing over the keys to the Cardinal

By Jack Casey and Jim Dayton | May. 4, 2015

Handing the keys off

OPINION

Our Editorial Board staff looks ahead

May. 4, 2015

As the school year comes to a close, members of our Editorial Board sound off in a series of blurbs on issues in which they’d like to see progress.

OPINION

Some exchange students feel nostalgia for high-tech toilets of days gone by

By Yukako Hirakawa | Apr. 29, 2015

When I came to the states for the first time in my life last September, what I missed the most was not sushi. Not even close. I realized that there is no Washlet at UW Madison. I was almost screaming in the middle of the campus.