Does this sound familiar? For a while now, someone you know has been calling you repeatedly and inquiring about your whereabouts. Sometimes, the caller hangs up immediately after you answer the phone. You are receiving unwanted e-mails, letters and gifts. You even suspect that your e-mail and Facebook accounts are being monitored. In other words, you are being stalked.
Voter advocacy and campaign finance reform advocates are up in arms over last Thursday's Supreme Court decision that overturned legislation prohibiting corporations, unions and other special interest groups from spending their money to advocate for a specific candidate. Since the Court's controversial 5-4 ruling, talk radio waves have been abuzz with claims that the decision overturns century old restrictions on corporations, special interest groups and unions in political campaigns.
Apparently, ears can be sexy. I was under the ignorant impression that so long as your ears did not evoke childhood memories of Dumbo's flight, stick out from your neck, or you know, weren't there, ears were unimportant to overall attractiveness. I know, you must be thinking, ""What rock have I been living under?"" According to Heidi Montag, one of the reality celebs that make headlines by creating a ""situation,"" she did not have sexy ears until she went under the knife for 10 simultaneous procedures to perfect her body. The procedures included a neck liposuction, breast augmentation revision and a brow lift, the but for Montag, they do not seem to be enough. For now, it's the new year, new her, but she claims that surgery will still be necessary down the road.
Anything bugging you recently? Perhaps it's too early to ask that question since we're just one week into the new semester. But even minor stressors may disrupt a well-kept daily schedule and cast a shadow over your bright mood in the long run. Meeting a professional counselor just seems like making a mountain out of a mole hill. Friends, on the other hand, are already too busy riding in the fast lane of college life. That is how SPILL, an e-mail-based peer listening group, came to fill the void. Although SPILL does not provide any forms of counseling services, it offers a novel approach to the mental health of college students.
Today's guest column is a response to the Green Room article ""Take a clean look at nuclear energy"" by Rachel Slaybaugh.
The election of Scott Brown in Massachusetts Tuesday night sent tremors through the political world. A wake up call was sent to the Washington establishment that Americans were, at the very least, concerned about the direction the country was heading. A Republican was able to pull off the unthinkable by taking on the Massachusetts Democratic machine and turning a seat that was once held by none other than Ted Kennedy into a seat that sustained the filibuster and blocked any hope of health-care reform. In a state where Democrats enjoy a three-to-one advantage in terms of voter registration, how could such a high profile Democrat lose when so much was on the line?
After New Year's it was revealed that Federal animal welfare inspectors who visited UW in December found twenty violations on campus. Violations included dogs that did not receive adequate veterinary care despite vomiting and failing to produce urine and unsanitary operating rooms. Amidst an uproar over the ethics of animal research and an argument about whether or not UW should be participating in animal research, focus has drifted from what really plagues the UW animal research programs, namely a lack of oversight.
Wisconsin may end up being the only state in the union that fails to adopt the changes in IRA conversion law made by the federal Tax Increase Prevention and Reconciliation Act of 2005 (TIPRA). The law removes the adjusted gross income limitation on people who want to convert their traditional IRAs to Roth IRAs (it was previously $100,000). Traditional IRAs allow contributions of untaxed income but disbursements on them are taxed and are required starting at age seventy and a half. Roth IRA contributions have already been taxed but do not tax disbursements and do not ever mandate them (this is significant in terms of estate planning because the money could continue to grow tax free over the lifetime of a beneficiary, unlike with traditional IRAs). It gets much more complicated than this for individual situations but in general, a person would want to convert to a Roth IRA if he or she anticipated being at a higher tax rate in the future than today.
Perhaps it's just my status as a perpetual political junkie, but I can't help but complain about the absence of a noticeable gubernatorial race in this state. As the capital and second largest city in Wisconsin, we should expect more activity in Madison from the major candidates for governor. Recently, I haven't heard anything besides fundraising pleas from Democrat Tom Barrett or Republican Scott Walker.
The Multi-Cultural Student Coalition is an alliance of students deeply committed to social justice and the principles of exclusivity, integrity, responsibility and respect. Naturally, we find that it is our duty to serve as an ""umbrella organization"" to provide a voice for students who relate to our mission. What makes this so beautiful is the variety of individuals who are able to find characteristics within themselves to identify with MCSC's qualities. We are unique in the sense that we do not allow our differences to tear us apart, but instead to unite us. MCSC has decided to indulge in the opportunity to provide our united expressions via this regularly-printed column. We are student representatives of a collective, an organization that embodies the viewpoints of our mission's followers.
If you haven't heard the term ""green"" within the past few years, it's likely you've been living under a rock. The green movement has become a nationwide cause, endorsed by countless celebrities and philanthropists. Even large-scale companies have started making ""green"" products or using renewable energies, all steps toward reducing the effects of global warming in our immediate future. Organics have also become a huge player in the movement. Organic food, clothing and even cleaning products have slowly started to work their way into the American home, despite their higher costs. But is the higher price worth the benefits?
Today is the time to mine the Internet for higher education resources. Just recently, California passed a law requiring that all college textbooks be available in electronic form by 2020. Some institutions have taken steps no less progressive. MIT, for example, has successfully run its OpenCourseWare (OCW) project for eight years, injecting a rare dose of philanthropy into higher education. By offering its course content online for free, MIT initiated the noble cause of open course projects. Many top universities, including Yale and Carnegie Mellon, have since joined the party. However, ideas to take the project further are somewhat more controversial.
Winter break is now over, and it is time for all of us at The Daily Cardinal to shake the dust off our word processors and get back to work. Surely we're in for four months of exciting breaking news, insightful commentary and pulse-pounding investigative reporting.
Fresh Madison Market opened its doors to the public two Saturdays ago, and as the only full service downtown grocery store it is sure to change the face of Madison and the downtown living experience. It is difficult to believe that downtown Madison has, up until now, lacked a full service grocery store. For years residents of downtown Madison, and the surrounding area from the near east side to the Vilas neighborhood, have been forced to drive or take a bus to the Hilldale Metcalfe and Copps, the southside Copps, or fork over for the inflated prices at Cap Center or Open Market Pantry.
I firmly believe the greatest gift you ever received did not come packaged. It did not have a bow or a box. It did not have a note attached. I firmly believe the greatest gift you ever received came from a teacher—perhaps many—who poured love into you in the form of education.
The swift response to the devastating earthquake in Haiti has been impressive and encouraging. Bill Clinton and George W. Bush stumping for the same thing is a good indicator of how Americans are putting aside disagreements to help our neighbors to the south.
In 2007 Governor Jim Doyle created a task force to investigate how Wisconsin can reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The task force identified short- and long-term goals and provided policy recommendations to achieve those goals. A variety of stakeholders, including environmental groups, utilities and citizen groups, participated and agreed to endorse the set of recommendations. This spring, Wisconsin lawmakers will debate the legislation that encompasses these policies. This legislation should be passed as a whole.
I was upset to read a recent Cardinal editorial depicting WISPIRG's staffing infrastructure as a misuse of segregated fees. The editorial overlooked several important points, including WISPIRG's history and methods of success and the nature of the segregated fee process in this university.
Let's admit something that has been fairly obvious for the past few months: this semester was pretty slow for news. Compare this to last fall, and there's no presidential election, no new chancellor. There were no big local electoral races or campus decisions like last spring's ASM constitution vote either. Overall, it was an incredibly boring time to be a politically involved Badger.
If you're familiar with the term ""environmental justice,"" you've likely heard it used in a technological context. Do phrases such as ""e-waste,"" ""toxic components of electronics"" or ""developing nations"" ring a bell?
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