It is love at first sight. It is a Thursday afternoon, and you are exhausted, waiting on the bus and eager to get home.
Like most college students, I am quite tied to my Facebook account and have put much of my life on the ever-growing social network. When I first heard about Facebook four years ago, I promised myself I would never sign my deal with the devil and get an account. Four years later and here I am, one of those people who logs on at least twice a day to update myself on things that the website says I care about.
I love a good Internet political meme. Most political junkies have their inner circles of friends on an email list-serve that they use to distribute particularly funny or applicable memes. It can be a very enjoyable hobby.
As a corporation, British Petroleum is deeply saddened by the recent leaks in our interwebs tube that have pumped out an ever-increasing number of highly sensitive and damaging internal documents into the vital Gulf of Public Opinion. We have prepared the following memo as a “top kill procedure” on the destructive flow of information by piping loads of crap into real leaks of BP’s corporate philosophy:
A couple of weeks ago, at the tender age of 19, I finally got my Florida driver's license. After a three-year saga of excuses and missed opportunities, I finally sucked it up and studied hard enough to pass - despite running over a cone and failing my first attempt. While pretty much all college students and young drivers can relate to the experience, I feel like I have a unique view of the whole process.
Last spring, an extraordinary event occurred in Student Government: Members of the Progress and Orange and Blue parties put aside their differences and created a brand-new party that represents all students, not just the lucky few. This new party, the Student Alliance party, immediately got to work by opposing the new Reitz Union student fee. We felt that in times of great economic hardship, the Unite Party was wrong to pass the buck on to the Student Body.
Thomas Jefferson once said, “All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent.”
In recent weeks, we have seen natural disasters and incidents that have irreparably stained many parts of our nation.
Sens. Andy Gardiner and Mike Haridopolos introduced two amendments to a bill in the Florida House of Representatives that would restrict women’s access to abortion. The bill and the two amendments passed in the House and Senate last week. Florida now waits for Gov. Charlie Crist to either sign or veto the bill, which has not yet come to his desk. Once it does, he has 15 days to decide.
On Tuesday, the Alligator published an article by Bryan Griffin who argued for a larger role for non-profits in the American health care system. This article was not only full of blatant contradictions but naive in the extreme. Mr. Griffin was arguing that the health care system would perform better in private hands, he just forgot that non-profits are heavily dependent upon the government and are not private enterprise. In his attempt to discredit the new health care laws he actually made an argument for an increased government role.
Debate is important. Especially when it comes to something as vital as health care. But when it comes to debate, as one senator put it, “You are entitled to your own opinion, but you are not entitled to your own facts.”
This week, the director of the Congressional Budget Office announced the health care legislation is going to cost about $115 billion more than expected. This brings the total in health care spending up to about $1 trillion — so far.
As someone who is fascinated by the U.S. Supreme Court, I’ve been consuming every bit of information about President Obama’s recent nominee, Elena Kagan. Unfortunately, it seems as if the Alligator’s Editorial Board has not consumed even half of that information.
Students pay anywhere from $200 to $2,000 a month in rent, and what do we get in return? Apartments that are filthy and in disrepair. I had several issues during my tenancy at one particular community. For one, the management was unwilling to repair a broken window. I requested to have it fixed every week for four months, but it never happened. When I returned from winter break there were dead bugs everywhere in my bedroom. That was my breaking point. I learned a lot from that experience and would like to share that knowledge with my fellow students.
During the next month, the Obama administration plans to release a new health care bill of rights, and the buzzword within appears to be “force.” The bill details how government is either forcing people to have coverage or forcing companies to cover them. For a country of free markets, there appears to be a growing number of limitations and rules.
I don’t want to scare anyone, but there are crazies walking among us. Even worse, over the past year and a half, they have become more and more visible, showing up at rallies across the nation to protest the government, and just about anything in between that procreates.
I’m sure all of you are over those sappy, sentimental goodbye columns. However, you’ll have to suffer through one more because I’m the editor and have control over the paper. Therefore, I can do what I want.
Since I graduate in about a week and a half, I think now is a good time to say goodbye. Some things you say goodbye to are things we’ll all need to say goodbye to. Farewell, increasing tuition. Some things you say goodbye to are special to my class. Farewell, Tim Tebow. And some things are more personal goodbyes. Farewell, Professor Shoaf. This is a mix of all of those.
Ah, my last column of the semester — and my last semester at that. I suppose this is where I get all sentimental in my undergraduate reflection, perhaps mustering enough good will to radiate advice out to some of the younger Gators among us. How quaint that would be, but any knowledge I’d be kicking wouldn’t exactly be worthy of an AAA rating. Plus, I’m not that generous. I guess the matter comes down to just how cliché I’m willing to allow myself to be. Answer: very.
Solutions by The State News
