Opinion - The Daily Cardinal

OPINION

United States - Israel ties 'unshakeable'

By by Zac Pestine | Oct. 30, 2012

This past Sunday, U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Martin Dempsey met with Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Israeli Defense Force Lieutenant Benny Gantz in order to coordinate a joint special air defense drill. Three thousand American soldiers will partake in this drill alongside thousands of Israeli soldiers, pilots and sailors in the largest military exercise of its kind in history. Israel, pronounced by both presidential candidates as our greatest ally in the region, is one of the United States’ closest allies in the world overall. “Unshakable” is the term that President Barack Obama fancies in reference to our bond with Israel. Clearly, ties between these two countries are deeply bound. Some who are unfamiliar with the Land of Milk and Honey often wonder why.

OPINION

Obama's first term brought change, success

By by Michael Brost | Oct. 29, 2012

A recurring theme of former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney’s presidential election campaign is that President Barack Obama has failed to deliver the change that he promised in 2008, or that the president has simply delivered the wrong kind of change. The problem with Romney’s claim isn’t that it is cynical and disingenuous. It is wrong. Today America looks fundamentally different than it did when Obama took office in January 2008. And the changes are mostly for the better.

OPINION

Red Bull is taking capitalism into space

By By: Mitch Taylor | Oct. 29, 2012

Okay, I understand that in news years this is rather old, but I think it’s important to look back on Felix Baumgartner’s stratospheric freefall. For any readers that don’t know, the energy drink company Red Bull sent a stuntman up into space who then jumped down to Earth, breaking the sound barrier as well as a bunch of world records in the process. Following this record-breaking publicity stunt, nicknamed Project Stratos, some of the more cynical among us are wondering, besides how Baumgartner fit his massive balls into that suit, why anyone should really care? I’m going to tell you why anyone should really care.

OPINION

Republicans’ use of religion in government is inappropriate

By By: Max Cisneros | Oct. 28, 2012

We have all heard so much politics these last few months that if political slander were a currency we would be able to pay off the national debt twice and sponsor research for sharper bayonets and taller horses. Even so, I need to squeeze one more article out of this election. While economics has taken the center role in the platforms of both candidates, it is necessary to take social policies of these candidates into consideration. At first, I was going to rant about how Republicans are all old, cranky, white people. I reconsidered my topic and considered writing on gay rights, then I took it back and started writing about abortion. I couldn’t find anything worth writing about until this weekend. It wasn’t until I was walking around campus in my chicken suit, cape and glow sticks that an idea hit me, like a vision! The separation between church and state!

CAMPUS NEWS

Student loan figures are misleading

By by Kate Krebs | Oct. 28, 2012

Borrowing has become a slippery slope, particularly among the college-aged American. In their senior year of high school, students are trained to fill out the FAFSA as scrupulously as possible in order to get federal financial aid. Then, throughout their college career, they continue to accept both federal and private loans on a yearly basis. Add in graduate school for the truly ambitious, and that’s up to nearly a decade of borrowing money for education with little or no income to supplement it.

OPINION

No First Amendment for Reddit

By By: Jon Shapiro | Oct. 25, 2012

Americans are confused. No, I am not a communist or a self-loathing civilian, but it is the truth, and Americans are confused on an issue that cannot be ignored: The First Amendment. The First Amendment protects free speech from government action, not privatized company action. About two weeks ago, Reddit, the self-proclaimed “front page of the Internet,” an online forum driven by user participation, edited their site following a report from the news blog Gawker. Gawker outed an infamous Redditor (online lingo for Reddit users), posting under the handle Violentacrez, who gained his notoriety from his tendencies to start forums based around the uploading of child pornography, misogyny and violence. Instantly, Internet users demanded an explanation regarding Reddit’s violation of the First Amendment. The only problem is that Reddit is privately owned and capable of silencing whomever it pleases.

OPINION

Apply Prohibition lessons to marijuana

By Mitch Taylor | Oct. 25, 2012

Marijuana can be hard to come by. Few people are willing to risk growing it, and even fewer are willing to risk selling it. This is especially true on college campuses such as UW-Madison where people just don’t smoke weed very much. Marijuana suppliers are so rare that if even one is shut down, it deals a crippling blow to the drug’s local availability.

OPINION

Ejections ruin game experience

By The Daily Cardinal Editorial Board | Oct. 24, 2012

Badger gamedays are one of the most treasured traditions here at UW-Madison, but it has come to this editorial board’s attention that the sudden enforcement of a seating policy may be threatening students’ ability to enjoy the games.

OPINION

Gun laws not the solution to shootings

By By: Evan Favill and JoEllen Amato | Oct. 23, 2012

Over the previous weekend, I headed back to my hometown of Brookfield to pick up some hours at my job and spend some time with the family. I just so happened to take a shift on Sunday, and was understandably shocked when I heard from management that the mall across the street had been locked down, and even more so when I heard that there had been a shooting at the Azana spa not two blocks from my place of employment.

OPINION

Romney’s foreign policies won’t work

By by Zac Pestine | Oct. 23, 2012

With the final presidential debate now in the books, I see one thing above all else with perfect clarity: both candidates have a natural propensity to dance around any given question. Although sometimes their ability to do so mesmerizes, causing the audience to forget the issue at hand, their skills in that realm have increasingly diminished. This became evident at myriad instances throughout the month of October, but it became exceedingly blatant during Monday’s debate. Different rhetoric was used on either side to say the same things over and over again.

OPINION

Candidate Romney still an enigma

By by Mike Brost | Oct. 22, 2012

Aweek ago today, a reinvigorated President Barack Obama came into the second presidential debate swinging. Polls reveal that a slight majority of Americans who watched the debate last week thought the president won. Last night, the president and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney had their final debate, sparring over foreign policy.

OPINION

We should follow Malala Yousfazi's brave example

By by Zac Pestine | Oct. 22, 2012

There are some people who are so inspiring, whose actions are so breathtaking, that we are so taken aback, so paralyzed by their courage, that our only course of action (temporarily) is to stand and reflect on how we could be more like them. Malala Yousafzai is one of those people. You may have heard the name. Hopefully, you have heard her story, or at least the recent events that have catapulted her into the public sphere.

OPINION

U.S. health care system broken, unethical

By By: Max Cisneros and Caitlin Linehan | Oct. 22, 2012

In the painting by Sir Luke Fildes of 1887, appropriately named “The Doctor,” we are shown a man brooding over a sick child while parents stand by in anguish looking towards the greying man for reassurance. Apart from being an expensive oil painting it is the standard by which contemporary medical professionals are compared to. As medicine has improved and capitalism reigned supreme, the image of the doctor has been slowly, but surely, moving away from the gentleman that cares about your wellbeing towards the stranger that tells you to pull your pants down and bend over. Why is this? There are several reasons, but one of the biggest would have to be the use of private health insurance companies.

CAMPUS NEWS

Alumna recounts sexual assault at UW

By By: Guest columnist | Oct. 21, 2012

Editor’s note: the following is an account of sexual assault, and may trigger an emotional response from some readers. The letter is written by a former UW-Madison student and Daily Cardinal staff member. The name was changed at the author’s request.

OPINION

McCaskill’s opinions should not be stifled by her job title

By by Kate Krebs | Oct. 21, 2012

Just days ago, controversy ensued after Angela McCaskill, diversity officer at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., signed a petition that would put a Maryland same-sex marriage law that allows gay marriage to popular vote.

OPINION

Romney and Obama provide weak debate

By By: Steven Nemcek | Oct. 18, 2012

Watching the second presidential debate on Tuesday was a sobering and frustrating experience. Once again, both candidates were unable to draw any serious policy distinctions between themselves. Once again, both candidates avoided giving direct answers regarding what exactly they are going to accomplish and how they are going to accomplish it.

OPINION

Affirmative action policies outdated

By The Daily Cardinal Editorial Board and Clay Thomas | Oct. 18, 2012

Affirmative action is an issue that seems to continually pop up around the country. Just a few days ago, oral arguments were presented to the Supreme Court in the Fisher vs. University of Texas case. Essentially, this case is about a young white woman, Abigail Fisher, who was denied admission to the University of Texas and asserts she was given unequal treatment in the admissions process. This article does not intend to determine whether or not Fisher is right in her complaint against the university. Instead, this board would like to further examine a holistic view of how affirmative action is used in university admissions processes.

OPINION

Economic democracy is good for the Madison community

By by Noah Phillips | Oct. 17, 2012

What do a monk, a fugitive and a Green party presidential candidate all have in common? The answer is a commitment to economic democracy. Some of you may wonder what an economic democracy is. An economic democracy is an ethos, a challenge and the subject of a conference that took place this past weekend at Madison Area Technical College.

OPINION

Rules for Halloween are way too strict

By By: Max Cisneros | Oct. 17, 2012

Alright, well with the elections so near you can smell the eggs it ate this morning on its breath, it’s a good time to take a step back and scrutinize something much simpler and down to earth: Halloween restrictions. There is nothing better than being able to blow some steam off after the first half of the semester by putting on a skin-tight jumpsuit, cape and bat mask, calling up some friends from off-campus and going out to prowl the streets of the capital on the lookout for crime and pirate booty. Sadly, the administration on campus has, to our distress, continually cut our fun short year after year with restrictions in the dorms and apartment buildings.

OPINION

Cutting NASA funding is insulting to Americans

By By: Evan Favill | Oct. 17, 2012

A few days ago, a man with a balloon set the world record for the highest altitude skydive ever attempted. Fast forward a few days and this man, Felix Baumgartner, is now a household name. Watching it myself, I couldn’t help but feel like I was watching something akin to the moon landing of 1969; it’s a frontier that no one’s explored before.