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(11/13/09 1:25am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Universal health care is a pretty big deal. But for many of IU’s less concerned members of society, “Grey’s Anatomy” is a bigger deal. It’s an accurate representation of the typical American hospital setting, you know. I wonder if the “Grey’s” fanatics among us realize how their beloved show could change if the House’s recently passed health care bill is approved by the Senate. Let’s start with a little exercise: Picture your favorite “Grey’s” doctor. Is it overdramatic Meredith? Overzealous Christina? What about the super-annoying Lexi-pedia? You may have noticed how I didn’t include Izzie’s name above. That’s because she’s dead. She died a long time ago. Before her little run-in with Georgey in the elevator. Why? Simple. She was just another number. Her advanced form of cancer wasn’t treated with the advanced medicine it could have been, had she the right to choose her insurer. Under the government-run system, the overall costs are more important than the individual needs of the patient. Everyone with cancer gets the same care, but that type of care is greatly depleted until the government can afford to offer it to everyone. And under the new system, she had to wait to get any treatment at all. All the new hoops she had to jump through cost her life. I didn’t include McSteamy or McDreamy as options, either. They don’t work at Seattle Grace anymore. The plastic surgery and neuro units were cut. Why? They were too specialized and too expensive. The hospital doesn’t have the budget for these important medical practices anymore. Under the employer-based payment system they had before, the hospital had the funding necessary to offer these services. But not now. With Derek no longer a doctor, it’s safe to bet Meredith killed herself. Or, to create a spinoff show, she ran off with someone she met at a bar. But no one watches the show for Meredith. It’s the hardcore Dr. Bailey that keeps us tuning in. Well, she’s gone, too. The hospital didn’t have the funds to improve its technology. Seattle Grace, like other hospitals across the U.S., no longer has an edge in medical technology on international competition. And since Bailey’s all about being the best, she shipped off to Asia. I know what you’re thinking. With Bailey gone, the internship program will suffer. Wrong. There are no interns. There’s no incentive for young people to enter the medical field anymore. The government-run system drastically reduces the salary of doctors, which is needed to offset the high expenses of medical school and running one’s own practice. America’s medical field is no longer about constant improvement and doing the best for the patient; it’s simply about providing a low, but identical, level of care for everyone. America’s brightest college students want a challenge, so they’ve chosen a new field of study. Sorry to burst your “Grey’s” bubble, but this is reality, after all. And with universal health care, the reality is that America’s hospitals are no longer what they used to be. “ER” should be out on DVD soon.
(10/22/09 1:07am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>If you weren’t at Hoosier Hysteria last Friday, slap yourself. Twice. Once for not being a true fan and again for missing the most defining moment of the 2009-10 men’s basketball season. Early in the evening, Coach Crean, mic in hand, asked where his “new friend Wes” was seated. Upon finding him, Crean pulled him out onto the court. The frail 82-year-old man, decked out in Hoosier gear, practically trembled with excitement as he stood before 13,321 fans in Assembly Hall. Crean told the crowd that Wes Hovis was battling stomach cancer and was told by his doctors not to come to Hoosier Hysteria. For those few seconds, everyone in Assembly Hall paused their clapping, put down their homemade big heads, and stopped swooning over Matt Roth. We all zoned in on the two men on the court. One, your average old man, ignoring serious health risks to see his favorite team play. The other, a big-name coach, ignoring the expectations of big-name coaches in order to brighten one man’s night. The crowd exploded with applause, and Wes pumped his fists. All 13,321 people became one in that moment, thanks to Coach Crean. Crean’s famous reasoning of “it’s Indiana” is something only understood by Hoosiers. Our basketball program and University as a whole embodies a spirit not seen elsewhere in the country. We’re different. Hell, a friend of mine almost wet himself when the mop lady came out. That type of student passion, when sparked by Crean, unifies the diverse study body. Our student section T-shirt should reflect that uniqueness. IU Athletics started a contest for the design of this year’s student section T-shirt. The top ten designs were put on the Athletics Web site, where people can vote on their favorite. One of the ten designs features Crean’s face, in the Obama-style coloring with “HOPE” written underneath. The political statement the shirt would make doesn’t belong in the basketball arena. It’s just not necessary. Fans don’t make the cold walk to Assembly Hall to be reminded of politics. Mocking Obama’s logo will do nothing to further unify our student fans. We shouldn’t be mocking anything, anyway. I can’t count the number of different ways I’ve seen Obama’s logos mimicked – on billboards, T-shirts and even Facebook profile pictures. There’s no reason our student body can’t think up something more original. Coach Crean is a different kind of coach. Most other D-1 coaches wouldn’t stay after every event to give autographs or offer free signed photographs on Twitter. And I haven’t heard of too many other coaches pulling someone like Wes out of the crowd on big nights such as Hoosier Hysteria. Putting Crean’s image in an already overused mold does disservice to the ways he’s changed things around here. When ESPN cameras span our students at games, we shouldn’t be walking advertisements for a politician. Coach Crean is writing a new chapter in the story of IU basketball – a
story already filled with the experiences of dedicated Hoosiers such as
Wes.
Obama doesn’t have a role in this story.
(10/08/09 1:33am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>IU’s Health Center is a peculiar place. Students flock to it every day, dragging along their various illnesses and ailments and eagerly anticipating a cured future. I was one of those students earlier this week. No big deal, I thought. Just another visit to the only building on campus where being stabbed with needles is okay. It was a Monday morning, the start to a long week of exams. Though I was worried about my well-being, I was more worried about the fact that I was unable to comprehend half of my assigned reading. Naturally, my thoughts drifted elsewhere as I climbed the steep staircase to the second floor, where everything that should be on the first floor is located. But rather than drifting to a state of boredom as they normally do, my thoughts became panicked. I realized I’d been trapped in a real-life Zombieland. Each way I turned, I saw nothing but adolescents decked out in drab sweatpants and blue facemasks, all wandering nomadically toward the pharmacy area. Assuming there was another unbitten human trapped amidst the Sudafed, I darted toward the cashier desk (all under a curtain of pretend zombie-ness, of course). But things didn’t improve there. An unsuspecting zombie reached the counter, unprepared for the wrath of the fast-talking and ironically germaphobic cashier. On my way up the stairs, I’d seen a half-dozen reminder signs about checking out. So, naturally, I assumed actually going to the desk was a rare occurrence. Suddenly, I was hit with the scent of fresh antibiotic hand gel. The cashier glared at the zombie, vigorously pumping hand sanitizer into her hand. The zombie girl eyed the bottle, but was snapped back to reality by the cashier’s demand for her identification number. “Silly zombie,” I thought, “hand sanitizer is for the unbitten.” Now, getting nervous, I rushed to the elevator. Inside, I found a slightly more energetic zombie, talking on the phone with his mother. After listening to his slurred speech for a second, I scrambled to find my own telephone, eager to tell my parents Charlie Brown’s teacher was accompanying me to the next floor. But the doors opened, and a “No Cell Phones” sign was waiting for me. Crap, I thought. I’ll never get out of here alive. Internally, I began practicing my British accent. Hey, I thought, it worked for the guys in Shaun of the Dead. I managed to make it through my appointment unscathed, and began counting down the moments until I could escape. The last minutes I spent in the building are a blur. I only remember being mocked by a flyer – “Stressed out? The Health Center can help!”Finally, I reached safety. Campus was sprawling with live humans, unmasked and unafraid of H1N1. “Hello, friends,” I thought as I walked up to a bus stop. Popping my iPod in, I got so distracted I almost didn’t look up in time to see the zombie bus driver open the doors and greet me with a fresh wave of unnecessary panic.
(09/24/09 1:03am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>I’m a back row judger. No, that’s not a volleyball term. It’s a made up term I created to describe how I entertain myself in class.I participate pretty often and don’t fall asleep in class. I’ve got good eyes, so I can afford to stay back. But, most importantly, sitting in the back allows me to hear and see everything that goes on during the 75-minute lecture. As a political science major, you can learn a lot about a person from what they say in class. Whenever a debate springs up, I sit up a little straighter and start playing the “which-party-do-they-belong-to?” game in my head. Stupid? Maybe. But it’s irresistible. As poly-sci majors, there’s always that underlying current of neutrality that we’re supposed to all swim along. So whenever someone starts swimming in a different direction, we pay attention. Sometimes, people will sink – like the kid who defended Osama Bin Laden in my class last week. But most of the time, we all pick up subtle queues about other’s political leanings and remember them when group projects come along. Amid all of this trivial mental processing, I’ve begun to notice a similar trend in the behaviors of all of my classmates. No one picks up their newspaper at the end of the lecture. We all just leave them on the ground, walk out of Woodburn and continue on with our lives. The pattern doesn’t stop there. Walk around any of the houses on the east side of town. Beer bottles, Solo cups and fast food bags litter the streets. It’s disgusting. Environmental issues are a stark dividing line in party politics, but I’ve never understood why. Liberals are quick to blame Republicans for “killing the Earth,” but I’ve seen more than one Obama bumper-stickered driver toss a cigarette butt out his window. And many Republicans preach self-responsibility, yet practice the opposite in their everyday habits. The entire basis of the GOP rests on the idea that we as individuals are more capable of solving our country’s problems than the government. If we don’t all make a conscious effort to practice better environmental habits, the government will claim – perhaps rightfully so – that it has no option other than to raise our taxes.We might never all agree on the reality of global warming. But I think we all can agree on the importance of keeping our environment clean. Why, then, is our party so afraid of being environmentally friendly in our day-to-day actions? Because of the backlash from those who’ve apparently already “claimed” the environment. I’ve heard, “Oh, you don’t recycle, you’re a Republican,” more than once in my time at IU. Such a labeling process does little to further any environmental goals. “Going green” shouldn’t be a token phrase of the left – it should be a token phrase of all the people, regardless of political affiliation, who recognize the importance of personal responsibility.
(04/23/09 12:36am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>I’ve never been a big fan of beauty pageants. The glitz and the glamour isn’t why I flip the channel – it’s the overall fakeness of the contestants. I know the pageant industry insists the competitions are all about representing the “real” American woman, but most of us get a laugh from that argument.I didn’t watch this year’s Miss USA pageant, but when I heard about it, I had to laugh in disbelief.For those of you who don’t know, Miss California Carrie Prejean was asked by a judge to describe her views on gay marriage. (This wasn’t just any judge, mind you. It was Perez Hilton, an openly gay gossip blogger.) Miss California disagreed with legalizing gay marriage.Asking the question was an appropriate move by the Miss USA program and Hilton himself. It’s important that the millions of teenage girls watching get a dose of controversial politics.However, the fact is that most mothers and fathers, regardless of their personal beliefs, would rather not expose smaller children to such a mature topic.Hilton’s personal agenda obviously trumps all broadcasting standards. (They should put him in charge of getting Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake to perform next year.)The question was obviously relevant. It’s important that all contestants disregard their ability to decide their own opinions upon entering the competition. The interview questions are not, as many believe, supposed to assign meaning to the intellectual skills of the contestants. They’re designed so that the young women competing for the crown can provide free advertisement for Hollywood’s liberal elite.Oh gosh, there I go. I just got so caught up with being a “real” American woman that I forgot I had a brain of my own (I also forgot to mention world peace).Beauty pageants already present an inaccurate representation of American women. Now that political correctness and liberal views are a requirement, the contestant pool is shrinking even further. Besides having a great set of teeth and possessing some sort of talent, contestants must agree to stifle even moderate political beliefs.Again, our country has allowed an egotistical leftist radical to start a witch hunt on a person who didn’t agree with him. Prejean has claimed religion as her reason for answering as she did – but why should she have to provide a reason at all?She answered a question dripping in blatant bias with a respectable and honest answer. I feel her guts alone should have been enough to win the crown. I’d feel the same if a conservative activist had asked an equally biased question and received a differing response. The fact that the question was even asked is a disgrace, and the way the pageant community has hounded the poor girl is just shameful.“I think it’s ridiculous that she got first runner-up,” a gay man in the audience said to Fox News. “That is not the value of 95 percent of the people in this audience. Look around this audience and tell me how many gay men there are.”It’s Miss USA, bud. Not Miss Liberal Audience. Prejean represented a view many young American women hold, and I thank her for doing so.
(04/13/09 1:48am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The University of Notre Dame has outdone itself in stupid ideas. Its decision to invite President Barack Obama to speak at their commencement is, by all regards, far worse than its decision to sign Charlie Weis to a 10-year contract.As a South Bend native, I was ashamed. And as a practicing Catholic, I was horrified. The church has long been one of the loudest opponents of abortion, perhaps the worst practice in America today.Obama’s status as president doesn’t make up for the fact that he supports abortion. The Notre Dame I used to know would recognize that Obama’s support of abortion decreases his status not only as president, but as a man. But instead, the University has chosen to indirectly support Obama’s pro-choice stances.And now, even students who oppose his visit have backed down. How pathetic.ND Response, a group of students opposed to the Obama invitation, have now decided that carrying through with Obama’s speech but revoking the honorary law degree the university offered him would be an “acceptable compromise.”These students have failed the many Catholics who look to them to represent the views of the church, and worse, they’ve failed themselves. The student body gave up before it even started.Apparently, these Notre Dame students couldn’t muster enough inspiration – or perhaps courage – to make some noise. Quite frankly, that’s the problem with most anti-abortion groups. Mailing red envelopes, joining Facebook groups and putting up bumper stickers is obviously not enough to reverse the evil with which Roe v. Wade plagued our nation. And though I respect the prayer protest the group held last week, let’s face it: Those students could implement more drastic measures while in prayer.These students had a real opportunity to start a revolution of sorts, but they opted for the easy way out. Until the millions of pro-life people in this country realize it’s going to take a little effort to reverse Roe v. Wade, abortion mills will continue to suck the brains out of living humans with suction vacuums.Yes, that’s what abortion procedures often consist of. Perhaps the most troublesome effect of abortion laws is the censoring of the procedures these laws protect. I encourage everyone to do his or her research; America might realize that abortion isn’t just another issue on a candidate’s ticket – it’s murder.Notre Dame students have the opportunity every day to walk their campus with strong, beating hearts. Many probably have high hopes to make the world a better place after graduation. Yet they failed to take advantage of an opportunity to protect the beating hearts of millions of children – and they failed to do their part to rid our world of a genocide our own president supports.Notre Dame, like many pro-life groups, settled for an easier battle. But for every “compromise” these groups make, another innocent life is compromised.The “American Dream” Obama is so passionate about bringing back is all about opportunity. Until he recognizes that abortion strips humans of the most basic opportunity – a chance at life – he shouldn’t be supported by anyone.
(03/26/09 12:42am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>President Barack Obama certainly has a way with words.Throughout the election season, his speeches were played over and over, holding our ears hostage to his message of “hope.” His devout crowd enveloped his podium, usually overdressed in the Obama wardrobe, which seems to be the greatest fad since Crocs.But since he’s taken office, the president seems to have lost some footing. Last week’s Jay Leno flop demonstrated his failing communication skills. Obama compared his bowling abilities to those demonstrated in the Special Olympics.Whoops.While I certainly don’t believe Obama’s statement displayed class, I can’t exactly renounce him for it; I don’t believe he said it intending to insult the mentally handicapped community.The left-leaning media, in typical fashion, wasn’t quick to pick up on Obama’s mistake. The New York Times didn’t even mention his fluke in their first story about the Leno appearance. Yet former President George W. Bush had his every word scrutinized by the media. I’ll be the first to admit Bush wasn’t the best speaker, but that shouldn’t put him any more at the mercy of a critical media than our current president.I would be a fool to claim that this mess-up erases the impact of Obama’s speeches. But I think Americans have been fooled for awhile.Barack Obama, as the Leno mess-up helps to prove, has a very intense relationship with someone other than his wife Michelle: his teleprompter. Using a teleprompter is not unusual these days. But using it for every single speaking engagement and making errors when it’s taken away is a pattern that should be stopped. Obama’s teleprompter dependence has not gone unnoticed by all. Though the leftist media continues to praise his oration skills, people are starting to catch on. His teleprompter even has its own blog now, though I’m not sure how often it will update. That thing has to get tired after doing all of Obama’s thinking for him.Bush used a teleprompter, too. So did Clinton. But neither was continually heralded as a speaking god by the press. And neither had such a quality that continually helped them save face. How can our country continue to exude so much worship toward Obama’s speeches? How can his “inspiring” communication skills be regarded as anything but phony? We’ve seen what happens when he’s without a teleprompter. Our leader shouldn’t be running the country by a script. If that’s what America needed, we’d elect someone off Broadway.If we all got past the front Obama’s been putting on for months and began judging him on his policies, we would be a little better off. You can’t be the next Great Communicator if you can’t communicate without the complete and utter dependence on a machine. Maybe America should realize that our president is little more than a machine himself. Or maybe we should impeach Obama’s teleprompter and make our President build a reputation based on what he was elected to do: fix the country.
(03/24/09 1:15am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The Btown ticket’s platform introduces measures that would increase campus efficiency while saving students money. Though some of their unique ideas are sure to keep costs from rising, a few may be no more than, well, unique ideas.Btown aims to reduce the costs to students after tuition and fees. Two of its measures go after the costs of books and school supplies. Btown wants to implement a tax-free “holiday” prior to each semester, which would give students a chance to buy their textbooks and school supplies without paying sales tax, and has lobbied to earn the support of State GOP Chairman Murray Clark. The ticket also wants to target faculty accountability for textbook prices. The “Save $1 Million for IU Students Campaign” would “heavily encourage” faculty to turn in book lists to local bookstores on time, thus increasing the amount of money students receive from selling back their used books. Though this plan may produce small rewards for students at the end of each semester, it would be extremely beneficial at the start of each term. Faculty members who turn in their lists late often give students unnecessary headaches and trips to the bookstore.Btown also believes setting up a gym camera system would increase the efficiency of recreational centers. The cameras would feed to an internet site, where students could watch for available courts or exercise equipment. Though the savvy idea must be applauded, Btown should focus more on the real problem: the lack of an adequate supply of recreational equipment.An on-campus bike-rental system is also on Btown’s list. Though they believe the system would be a utilized alternative to walking, let’s face it – most kids who walk do it because they want to or because a bus was full. The money that would be spent on a bike-rental system would be better spent by adding routes to the campus bus system.Though Btown fails to dig to the real root of some of IU’s problems, their platform promises a better future for students’ wallets. And who doesn’t like that?
(03/05/09 3:10am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Gen. Peter Pace has been blamed again and again for discriminating against the gay community.If anyone’s being discriminated against, it’s him.All of us know the story line of this political-correctness fiasco. I’ve heard some of my classmates condemn the University for “even thinking” about giving an award to someone who dares to express such a hateful idea (that was the first time I’ve ever laughed in the new honors building). But I’ve heard plenty of opinions similar to my own.Yes, it’s a First Amendment issue. His statement was a personal opinion, one with which many Americans agree. Revoking an award because of something Pace said in 2007 wouldn’t just be ridiculous. It would be a slap in the face to perhaps the greatest freedom Americans have.Furthermore, Pace’s award was based on his resume of lifetime achievements – not his views on homosexuality. Yes, he is representing the Kelly School of Business, but for good reason. The man has spent his life defending our country. His leadership skills belittle those of probably everyone on campus. He’s experienced things many of us only dream about, and he was generous and humble enough to come offer advice to a bunch of 20-something students.But the root of my anger over this unnecessary controversy lays in the actual wording of Pace’s statement. He told the Chicago Tribune, “I believe homosexual acts between two individuals are immoral and that we should not condone immoral acts.”Apparently morals, a highly personal set of ethical guidelines, must also surrender to liberal political correctness.In kindergarten, we learned not to cut people’s hair with scissors. In high school, most of us learned not to stare at the pregnant girl’s stomach. These are morals that the majority of us share. But our upbringings, religious beliefs, cultural backgrounds and thought processes all led us to develop our own unique set of morals for other issues. Gen. Pace chose to express just one part of his set of morals.Attacking someone for a belief we are all free to hold puts the very idea of morality at stake. If these Pace-haters continue to believe that other people’s morals must align with their own, they might want to consider moving to a communist country.People aren’t robots. We have the human capability to create our own sets of rights and wrongs. We do not (or at least we should not) have the capability to manipulate the decision-making process of another human being.Apparently those so deeply offended by Pace’s statement believe everyone should be hardwired with their “open-minded” principles. The hypocrisy of the far left is, as usual, quite obvious with the Pace situation. If starting a witch-hunt on conservative morality is what the liberals claim as open-mindedness, perhaps their minds stretched so far open their brains fell out.IU’s Bloominton Faculty Council issued a statement of regret for awarding Gen. Pace the honorary position. I’ll issue my own now.I regret that I belong to a university community that fell prey to the hypocritical ranting of leftist bullies. If IU is going to continue to claim it stands for diversity, people on this campus should start recognizing that promoting only liberal beliefs is far from diverse.
(02/19/09 3:23am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>I absolutely love Tom Crean.He’s the reason I watch every game. He’s the reason I always have a seed of hope in my stomach, despite the pit of embarrassment that forms watching our consecutive turnovers. He’s the reason I still talk trash to my Purdue friends, regardless of our last-place standing in the Big Ten.While watching Sunday’s game vs. Illinois, a clip of Crean’s pregame pep talk was shown. As his hoarse voice barked out words of inspiration, I felt pumped up enough to go and kick Bruce Weber’s butt myself. Crean barely touched on the troubling past; our guys clearly remember the Sampson era and the 11-game losing streak. Instead, he reminded the team of their winning capability. He concentrated on the future, the only thing they have under their control.With the Illini up and the clock ticking away, the crowd started filing out. Yet there was Crean, clapping his hands together feverishly. Whether he was yelling encouragement or hugging Matt Roth, Crean never let the inevitable defeat damper his enthusiasm.That loss will stay on the minds of our players for awhile. But Crean, as he has all year, will concentrate on an optimistic future to encourage them. He won’t spend his practices preaching about the last game’s lopsided statistics; he’ll spend the time correcting the problem while erasing the past.President Obama should take a page from Crean’s playbook.Despite running on a campaign of “hope,” Obama seems to have a thing for negativity.Last week, Obama visited Elkhart, Ind., located in a county with a large unemployed population. If I were one of those unemployed residents, I know I’d want to hear something positive from the president.Instead, Obama used Elkhart as a platform to tout disappointing economic figures and advertise his stimulus package. Just into his speech, he started rambling off the numbers, reminding the audience of Elkhart’s 15 percent unemployment rate. He of course treated the crowd to his typical game plan: Find random unemployed American, have him describe his struggles, then turn to the crowd and say, “This is you.”Guess what, Mr. President? Those people already knew all that.Until our president stops using every opportunity to rehash the figures of our staggering economy, we will struggle to pull out of the recession. Consumers aren’t any more enticed to spend their money after they hear yet another rendition of the country’s decline from the guy who promised to fix it.Obama is repeatedly making the country’s downfall a political wedge, which probably won’t fix the problems anyway. Apparently he missed the memo that the negative advertising usually ends after you take office.Tom Crean has managed to maintain Bloomington’s basketball passion by running a coaching campaign based solely on optimism. How could we expect our team to win if Crean spent his time sitting on the bench, using time-outs to reminisce about last half’s dismal free-throw percentage? We couldn’t.It’s time Obama got off the bench and started clapping, too.
(02/05/09 2:55am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>When I heard Indianapolis Colts head coach Tony Dungy was retiring, I, like many fellow Colts fans, felt a surge of emotion. There was panic, of course, but then I remembered the Colts still had the best quarterback in the league. There was some grief, too. And, not surprisingly, there was some anger. As a lifetime Colts fan, I couldn’t help but bitterly wonder when the next time I’d see Indianapolis in the big game would be.After hearing Dungy’s retirement speech, I felt ashamed to have thought so selfishly, considering the selflessness he once again displayed.After 31 years in the NFL, with Super Bowl wins as both a player and a coach, Dungy didn’t step down for the usual reasons. He wasn’t tired, or old, or struggling to put up as many wins as in years past. He just felt he could do more. “I think I’ve got a responsibility to be home a little bit more, be available to my family a little bit more and do some things to help make our country better,” Dungy said. “I don’t know what that is right now, but we’ll see.”Considering his involvement in the Indianapolis community, it’s difficult to fathom how this football icon could have anything left to give. Among dozens of endeavors, Dungy has worked for various nonprofit organizations, raised money for institutions such as Riley Hospital for Children, and started a mentoring program for young people. President Bush even appointed him to the 25-member President’s Council on Service and Civic Participation in 2007.His motivation for his civic involvement is his faith, something Dungy isn’t afraid to exhibit. When he earned the coaching job in Indianapolis, he told the city that his faith would always come before football. And it did. He paid for lunches at church summer day cares, attended Bible study groups and answered prayer requests from his fans.These simple acts of faith far surpass the average celebrity’s religious affiliation. In a society where promoting evangelical religious beliefs is becoming increasingly taboo, he’s refused to deny his relationship with God.In 2007, Dungy attended an Indiana Family Institute banquet. The group is known for its support of an amendment to Indiana’s state constitution that would define marriage as a union between a man and a woman. Though he was attacked by gay rights groups, Dungy wholeheartedly supported the Institute.“I’m on God’s side,” he said.To those who challenge or doubt Dungy’s religious beliefs, I remind you of perhaps the quietest example of the strength he finds in his faith: his quick return to coaching after the death of his son in 2005. Despite the pain that loss must have inflicted on his life, this remarkable man has again and again shared his time, resources and faith with anyone who’s needed it.Mr. Dungy will be at the IU bookstore in the Union today at noon to sign copies of his new book, “Uncommon: Finding Your Path to Significance.” I invite you, regardless of your football or religious preferences, to share some of your time with him.
(01/23/09 12:28am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Forrest Gump? Classic. Woody? A childhood icon for many of us. Chuck Noland? Almost as great of a character as Wilson was. Tom Hanks? An idiot. Last Wednesday, Mr. Hanks made a bold yet ridiculous proclamation proving this correct. He declared those members of the Mormon Church who support California’s Proposition 8 banning gay marriage to be “un-American.” Shut up, Forrest. This statement was so inherently hypocritical I had to laugh. A representative of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints responded to it by saying, “Expressing an opinion in a free and democratic society is as American as it gets.”I couldn’t say it better myself.As we witness the transition of power to President Obama, our country must not forget the ideals for which we stand. Perhaps the most important of these ideals are our freedoms of speech and beliefs. An American should be able to think and express anything he wants without fearing persecution. However, as Mr. Hanks has displayed, any beliefs not coinciding with liberal philosophies have somehow become taboo.I’ve been called close-minded numerous times, yet never truly understood why. I try to approach every issue from numerous angles, as I’m sure many other young Americans do. But regardless of my understanding of an issue, a conservative, even moderate, stance automatically earns me this insult. Does no one see the hypocrisy here? When an opinion must align with a liberal belief in order to be deemed open-minded, the freedoms that we as Americans are blessed enough to own are being ridiculed. Having an open mind has nothing to do with supporting controversial social issues such as gay marriage. The majority of Americans who do not support this idea don’t simply plug their ears when they hear about it. They don’t shut their eyes every time they’re presented with an image of homosexuality. Though of course there are exceptions, most of us make our decision on this and other such issues based on a number of factors.Yet those who disagree with us somehow feel justified in assuming our way of thinking is nowhere near as sophisticated as their own. Because we reject an idea, we must therefore be incapable of stretching our minds. The millions of Americans who don’t support gay marriage must have some sort of thought-process malfunction that prevents them from supporting the socially acceptable answer.What could be more close-minded than this approach? Being an American doesn’t mean you have to swallow a personal belief in order to refrain from offending someone of an alternate lifestyle. Those Mormons who financially supported Proposition 8 did far more in exercising their American rights than many citizens will ever do. Mr. Hanks displayed his own narrow-mindedness by labeling a viewpoint he did not personally agree with as un-American. In doing so, he insulted the very freedoms the Constitution defends.
(01/15/09 2:29am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>On Jan. 19, students won’t traipse to class in the wintery weather. They’ll stay in and enjoy a day off. IU will shut down Monday to celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.Since we were young, we’ve heard the stories and the speeches. King was a great man, one of the most significant figures in American history. Without his dedication to civil rights, today’s world could be vastly different. King led a revolution in our country to rid it of an evil much greater than any most of us have ever dealt with. All of us, regardless of race, should be thankful for the sacrifices he made to guarantee a better future for our generation. King died trying to better the United States of America. He died fighting the tedious battle for true equality.But he wasn’t the only one.One hundred and three years prior to the day America witnessed King’s assassination, President Abraham Lincoln was murdered at Ford’s Theatre. The events of that night can be found in our history textbooks, perhaps just a few chapters before King’s time. “Four score and seven years ago” is etched into our memories right beside “I have a dream.” Lincoln’s historical presidency was probably the greatest our country will ever witness. He freed the slaves and began pushing our society down the road that King would tread a century later. Without Abraham Lincoln, King may have never had the opportunity to revolutionize our society, because he may never have had the opportunity to act as a free man.On Feb. 16, attendance will be taken in the lecture halls. Many students will go about their day never knowing its significance. IU does not shut down for President’s Day, the only federal holiday that has any relevance to Abraham Lincoln.Ironically, the holiday was originally dedicated to George Washington. Many states who observed Lincoln’s birthday made President’s Day a “joint” holiday, and began to also celebrate Lincoln on this date. There has never been a federal holiday made exclusively in Abraham Lincoln’s honor.King and Lincoln, in different ways, changed America for African-Americans. An argument about which figure was more successful in doing so would be irrelevant and probably impossible to conclude. Why, then, does our calendar seem to make this decision for us? Why has our country failed to set aside a day in remembrance of a man so important to our history? Furthermore, why does our university not recognize the closest thing we have to a holiday celebrating Lincoln?Creating a federal holiday would undoubtedly take a lot of time and paperwork. But recognizing a day already in place, however vaguely it may celebrate Lincoln, wouldn’t require much of our school.King made his most famous speech on the steps of a monument bearing a statue of Abraham Lincoln. He said the Emancipation Proclamation was a “great beacon light of hope” for the slaves. King commemorated the sixteenth President. It’s time IU did, too.
(12/12/08 3:34am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Last week, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill made a decision that was so stupid, I almost lost respect for their basketball team.Almost.For years, UNC displayed Christmas trees in two of their campus libraries. I’d say trees are probably one of the most generalized Christmas – excuse me, holiday – icons we have in this country. Not surprisingly, there was no manger scene on display, and no sign of anything related to the actual beginning of Christmas.If you’re like some students on this campus and have decided a college education deems you intelligent enough to declare the absence of a god, then you may not know what I’m talking about. But for the rest of you who suffer from that disease called “religion” – or even humility – carry on.Anyway, I guess these trees proved just too symbolic to be put out again this year. This was made obvious when “at least a dozen” employees complained to the head librarian. How dare a state university show any recognition of the country’s biggest holiday, especially when it angers twelve employees? How dare a university do anything without checking with those twelve employees first? How dare a university show any recognition of a majority rule? How dare a university do anything so ridiculous? I’m also going to go out on a crazy limb here and guess that a majority of UNC’s student body celebrates Christmas. But rather than acknowledging the majority of students, the university chose to acknowledge a minority group of employees. Funny how the word “majority” has come to mean so many different things in our country. To me, it means more than half. When Obama won the election, the majority mattered. It was respected, and it was celebrated. I was not in that majority, but I understood the simple math that made me part of the losing team. I respect what makes our country a democracy.So imagine my confusion when suddenly, for those UNC students who celebrate Christmas, their “majority” status was no longer important. Now, it’s being used against them. It’s being used as a measure of narrow-mindedness, and as a reason to justify an utter disregard of their beliefs. A lot of those students probably pay tuition dollars toward things they might not agree with, but don’t have a choice. Some of my tuition was used to pay a piece-of-filth politician to come share his “wisdom” with our school. Case in point. Why, then, is the overwhelmingly popular holiday preference ignored because of another’s opinion? How can a democracy place more importance on one person’s preference than another’s? I understand that not everyone celebrates Christmas. But a majority of our country does. Minorities should have every right to celebrate in their own way, right alongside the majority. But the second a minority’s personal disagreement is given the power to completely erase the importance of a majority’s, we reach the highest level of injustice and discrimination possible. Call me politically incorrect. But I’d rather be politically incorrect than incapable of acknowledging a majority, whether I am a part of it or not.
(11/21/08 3:25am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>This Thanksgiving, let us all bow our heads before digging into our turkey and fixings and think about what we are most thankful for.Chances are, for a lot of us, being with our families ranks up there around the top of the list. For some, of course, low introductory APRs, Thirsty Thursdays and the “Twilight” movie might be competitive this year, but the majority of us go for the family.There is certainly good reason for this choice. For most of us, our families represent home, shelter and a helping hand. But this year, I think it might do us all a little good to be just as thankful for what we don’t have. Many students here at IU are too far from home to travel back for Thanksgiving. I’ve never been in that predicament, but I witnessed a similar experience in high school. My family hosted a foreign exchange student who couldn’t see her family for any major holidays for a year. She was disappointed, of course, but I couldn’t help thinking how rewarding the next holiday spent with her family would be. Perhaps in some strange way, losing out on something is a gift in disguise. Perhaps we’ve forgotten that a loss might be our greatest gain.I’m no huge Garth Brooks fan, but maybe he was right when he said unanswered prayers are God’s greatest gifts. We all suffer ups and downs and oftentimes are faced with closed doors. All of my fellow Cubs fans know what I’m talking about. But seriously, we undergo bad experiences almost as much as we celebrate good ones. I’m probably just another naive college student, but I’ve come to believe those bad experiences and losses shape us more than the things that go right. When we can’t see our families, we savor the next homecoming even more.When we can’t pass a test, we learn to get off Facebook and study and better our habits as students.When we can’t make a relationship work, we suffer, yet ultimately look back and realize how much stronger we’ve become in the process.When we finish reading the seventh Harry Potter book, the mediocre movies become the milestones of our summers.This Thanksgiving, take a second and be thankful for your failures, for your losses and for any pain you might have suffered in the process. Make light of the situation, maybe even have a laugh (shoutout to my fellow Republicans). But then be grateful for these letdowns. For without losing, we could never fully appreciate triumph.Besides, without this attitude, it’d be difficult for me to be thankful for yet another “next year.”
(11/07/08 2:02am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>On Election Day, I stuck out like a sore thumb. While many students walked around campus with their fashionable, multicolored and face-of-change Obama shirts, I donned John McCain’s simple logo on a plain white t-shirt.Others had on “I voted for change” stickers. I wasn’t offered one.Others spent class time talking to each other about “stupid old McCain” instead of listening to their professors. I spent class time talking to God – also not listening to my professors.Others didn’t notice how graffiti-ed our campus became with Obama paraphernalia. I did. In the weeks leading up to this election, I’ve seen Obama’s slightly upturned profile in more places than I’d like to. He dedicated an impressive amount of money to putting his face on pieces of paper, most with adhesive backs. And his supporters dedicated an equal amount of energy to sticking these things up any old place they want.Lightpoles. Street signs. Newspaper stands. Handicap rails. Bathroom stalls. Trees. Out-of-reach windows on Woodburn Hall (did the Obama campaign fund ladders, too?).Those circle stickers were another great marketing idea by the Obama campaign. They were distributed everywhere. Plus, only a handful of Republicans I know mistook them for dartboards. Was it a good idea for local Obama supporters to plaster these stickers on every surface around campus? No. Actually, it was a really stupid idea. If I didn’t know better, and actually considered voting for Obama, I would have had a hard time accepting their actions.First of all, it’s vandalism. If I walked up to a stop sign and put up a sticker of my own profile, filled in with pretty red and blue patterns, it would be illegal, no matter how Messiah-esque I may be. The same goes for America’s favorite junior senator. Second, this vandalism is extremely hypocritical of the Democratic party, the party that prides itself on its environmental philosophies. They’re all for beautifying our world, yet they littered the structures on our campus with stickers that will, eventually, have to be removed. Third, I know that I, and many of my fellow students, don’t pay a bunch of money to a university to see its structures decorated with political advertisements. Campus is not the news. We can’t turn off MSNBC when it’s on street signs. When these are removed (no, sorry, I don’t think they’re going to stay up as the campus shrines some of you want them to be), IU employees will be the ones removing them. This will be a time-consuming task and waste a lot of the University’s money. However, I’m sure students will still feel justified to complain about how poorly the University spends its money. The amount of enthusiasm young people put toward this election was astounding and something we should all be proud of. But these instances of vandalism should never be repeated.Hopefully after watching IU employees get out the Goo Gone and Dobie Pads, the local Democratic party can find a new way to get out the vote.
(10/24/08 1:41am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>When the weatherman tells me to wear a coat, I listen.When MTV tells me to “Choose or Lose,” I don’t.I already voted. But I didn’t vote because MTV told me to. I refuse to be exploited, and I refuse to jump on the bandwagon that MTV and other youth-targeted organizations are steering.Young people have traditionally been absent at the polls on Election Day. This trend is certainly troubling. But what I find more troubling is that the effort to get young people to vote is increasingly paired with the pressure to vote Democrat.Now, I’m sure this will come across as another conservative attempt to reduce liberal votes. Not true. I realize people aren’t always going to see eye-to-eye. I respect those who have firm beliefs, even when they’re completely opposite from my own. Besides, without the polarized community we have now, I wouldn’t get the pleasure of getting flipped off once a week for my bumper stickers.I do, however, think we should reduce stupid votes.Many of the get-out-the-vote campaigns aren’t inviting us to take part in the democratic system – they’re attempting to use our vote to push along their own agenda. These organizations might as well take the ballot from us and fill it out themselves.Voting is important. But I believe an educated voter is more important. In an election season as important as this one, we can’t afford to have voters choose a candidate based on what P. Diddy says.If you happen to agree with what he believes, fine. But if you’re just voting because you like his “No Bitchassness” attitude, that’s not fine.As college students, we often overlook the realities of our fellow young adults. We are educated students, working hard to get to that next level in our lives. Many of us take more interest in the political process than older adults do.Outside of campuses across the country, there are plenty of other young voters who don’t have the books or the classroom debates to help them make up their minds. Many are impressionable people. Urging these people to “vote” while flashing slanted political messages across the screen undermines the intelligence and decision-making abilities of young people. Worse, it’s undermining the privilege of voting.The young person should be pressured to vote. We are the generation of the future, and we need to take action now for that future. But the young person should also feel pressured to think. MTV shouldn’t do the thinking for us.On this Election Day, we will probably see a larger percentage of young voters than in years past. Hopefully, these voters came equipped with reasons for their decisions and a respect for the influence they hold in their writing hand. Hopefully they realize that our voting process was created by a group of men who didn’t foresee the party organizations we have today.Choosing for oneself is the true victory. But letting another group choose for you is a real loss.
(10/10/08 2:38am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>I don’t wear my iPod on my walk to class. I find eavesdropping to be much more fun. But I’m beginning to realize that most students spend their time complaining.It is a necessary part of life. Most gripes I hear are legit. Yes, tortellini should be served more than once a week at the Gresham Food Court; I second that motion.I’ve found that a majority of complaints I hear are at bus stops. And most of the time, they’re about the bus system:“Oh, my, GAWD, where is the bus?”“It’s-so-freaking-cold-where-is-the-freaking-bus?”“My blackberry makes me look way cooler on the bus than off it.” (I made that up).Are these complaints justified? Somewhat. I live off campus and spend more time than I want waiting in the stadium parking lot for an A or X bus to roll in and take me to class. The experience is almost holy. Each day, students line the parking lot, waiting to hear that bus rev its engine, rumble up and grace us with the sound of its squeaky brakes. That front door opens, and we finally gaze into the light at the end of the tunnel. The bus is here. Heaven has opened its gates.Then, we get on it, and Satan’s waiting for us. The inside of most campus busses resemble hell. They’re crowded, hot and eternally slow. The bus system is especially irritating this year. Last summer, the IU Campus Bus Service announced a series of cuts. The A, B, D, E and X bus weekday services were reduced by 4 percent, Friday service by 16 percent and weekend routes by 61 percent. Buses are now more inefficient than last year’s IU basketball team’s defensive strategy.But this, brothers and sisters, is an issue we can resolve. I’ve spent time observing my fellow riders, and I’ve decided that the student body is responsible for most of the problems we complain about. We can reject this hell, my friends. I’ve developed a miniature list of commandments that, if followed, will bring us to the promised land once again. 1. Thou shalt have many other means of transportation. If you are going from McNutt to the Kelly School, you can walk. The fresh air will do your hangover good.2. Thou shalt not stop immediately upon entering the bus. The yellow line is not a finish line. 3. Thou shalt not make the driver say, “Please move back” multiple times. That is not the voice of God speaking; therefore, you don’t get to ignore it. 4. Thou shalt not enter through the back door, thus enacting the newly created “front door only” rule. Hopping through the back and high-fiving your friend doesn’t make you a rebel. It makes you an idiot.5. Thou shalt not confuse texting with moving. Come up for air once in awhile. You can pick up on your gossip later. For now, pick up your feet. Follow these rules faithfully and I promise you, all of us will spend a little less time dealing with the devil and a little more time off the buses.
(10/02/08 1:11am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>In my opinion, the only thing better than watching debates is following the post-debate analysis and watching our beloved members of the media debate one another.This time, one headline caught my eye: Obama’s “Reagan Debate.” The column, featured on Forbes.com and written by Michael Cohen, compared Barack Obama’s debate showing with Ronald Reagan’s remarkable debate performance in 1980. Now, I understand the majority of America’s media outlets have liberal goggles permanently glued to their faces. But this? Did those goggles suddenly get the “impaired driver treatment” to demonstrate drunkenness? Maybe they were borrowed from Ted Kennedy. Who knows.The piece details the similar situations both Reagan and Obama faced in their candidacy. Both politicians, it said, came into the election as the candidate promoting “change.” Each represented the opposite of the past president, and each had a little luck with their timing.These arguments are true.Despite the extreme ideology differences, the campaign strategies of Reagan and Obama bear striking likenesses. But the buck stops there.The late president Ronald Reagan (probably known as “Ronnie” to Obama, who apparently has earned first-name basis with his elders after his long, achievement-filled, four-year Senate tenure) was one of the best presidents our nation has seen.Affectionately known as “The Great Communicator,” Reagan’s oratory skills topped those of even Obama. But I’m guessing Reagan’s turning in his grave almost as much as Obama is turning around questions. The elections of 1980 and 2008 bear one striking difference: one candidate was qualified; one is not. Prior to running for president, Reagan was governor of California for eight years. Before that, he was president of the Screen Actors Guild, a spokesman for General Electric Co., a Second Lieutenant in the Army and the student body president in college and high school (compared to Obama, this is experience).He fought communism, fought for our country and fought for the state of California. At the time, Reagan was often dubbed “inexperienced.”How ironic. This seems odd to me, because I don’t think Reagan could opt to vote “present” in any of his positions.A majority of Reagan’s time was spent running things – making executive decisions.Prior to announcing his run for the executive office, Obama served as a junior United States Senator, a State Legislator, a community organizer and – watch out – editor of the Harvard Law Review.I’m sorry, but if slashing sentences and cutting unnecessary commas is your closest thing to executive experience, you should reconsider the Oval Office.Obama was also a “Senior Lecturer” at the University of Chicago Law School. Does this make my teaching assistants qualified to be vice president? Probably.The Forbes.com column had it somewhat right. The situations each of these candidates faced prior to the election were similar.However, Obama doesn’t have an ounce of true leadership experience necessary to share a headline with Reagan.Besides, it’s just disturbing that a man who literally took a bullet for our country is being compared with a man who doesn’t even know how to call the shots.
(09/19/08 2:45am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>We’ve all heard it at least once by now.A professor asks his class for opinions about Sarah Palin and her quick rise in the political sphere as John McCain’s vice-presidential pick.If you’re lucky, you’ll get one or two educated answers about Palin’s policies or experience.But if your experience is like mine, you’ll have a liberal sitting in the front row, jumping in her seat to blurt out the only thing she can come up with to denounce the woman:“Her daughter’s pregnant!”Isn’t it amazing what a college education can teach us? Yes, the 17-year-old daughter of Sarah Palin is pregnant. But – SHOCKER – the teenage Bristol Palin is not the vice-presidential candidate. Now, I could go ahead and state how the unwed Bristol Palin’s pregnancy is irrelevant to the campaign, and nobody’s business but her own. But I don’t believe this. Politics is a dirty world, and unfortunately, that’s not going to change. As soon as her mother accepted the nomination, every bodily function of Bristol Palin became fair game. Can I blame the liberals for jumping at the chance to defame someone associated with that evil Republican Party? No. But I can blame them for failing to discover the real issue here.Sarah Palin has conservative values. She has family values. Do I think she taught her kids that young, unprotected sex was a good idea? No. But in my opinion, she taught them something more important: to take responsibility for their actions. Bristol Palin made a mistake – a mistake that will change her life and probably ruin a lot of future opportunities. But instead of choosing the easy route, she chose to sacrifice a big part of her life to save another. No American is perfect. But every American has the opportunity to right a wrong. Aborting an innocent life just because it “wasn’t the time to have a kid” is not righting a wrong. It’s murder. So next time you hear someone use Bristol Palin’s pregnancy as evidence against Palin’s conservativeness, shoot them down. Conservatives don’t expect everyone to be perfect – they recognize that people make mistakes. But what separates conservative ideology from liberalism is how they respond to mistakes. They don’t run to the government, look for handouts, or thoughtlessly kill a living person. Instead, conservatives suffer the consequences and do what’s right. Only by dealing with consequences can people expect to grow and expect their situations to improve. Sarah Palin, in my opinion, has been a shining example of the conservative philosophy. A liberal classmate of mine once said, “What kind of a mother would put her pregnant daughter in the spotlight like that?”My answer? The kind of mother who is proud of her daughter’s selflessness. The kind of mother who raised her child to value another life more than her own. The kind of mother that should be our first female vice president.