Opinion

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NSA must stop spying

The United States National Security Agency, or the NSA as it as popularly referred to, is in some hot water. On Monday, allegations came from Europe that NSA has spied and collected information from foreign leaders for almost a decade. Allegedly, The NSA collected information from 35 world leaders including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, one of the United States’ closest allies. This espionage has left many around the world feeling uneasy and suspicious of the United States, and President Barack Obama claims not to have known about this espionage. This is not the first round of trouble for the NSA, either. Last May, former CIA employee and NSA contractor Edward Snowden released confidential documents detailing the NSA’s surveillance practices. This included the ordering of American phone companies to send extensive call records and logs to the NSA. Rightfully so, this left a feeling of unrest among Americans. Many Americans were concerned over the scope of these surveillance practices and it asks the question: Just how much do the NSA and federal government know about our daily lives?

Discrimination in Russia should be fought

Eating right is a lifestyle

Plenty of people consider themselves to be health experts. They alone know what is truly healthy and unhealthy, and other people should be judged and corrected for their silly dietary mistakes. Here is the secret: everyone is wrong to some extent. Healthy eating is not about fad diets or fasting, and it is certainly not about finding the perfect combination of diet and exercise either, because that does not exist.

Breaching privacy has become too easy

It’s a dangerous world that we live in. What is the price you are willing to pay to feel safe? Apparently, the National Security Agency feels that price isn’t cheap.

Bilingual ability is a necessary, invaluable asset to possess

Whether or not you have the time or the brainpower, it’s time to hunker down with Rosetta Stone and start saving up for a trip to Spain or Argentina. Why is this? Because being bilingual is becoming a hot commodity in the job market. Behind the scenes of the sexiness that comes with speaking a foreign language, there seems to be a weird power struggle between languages. Here in the United Sates, I see two extremes. One of them rewards bilingualism and one simply and stubbornly considers English to be the superior language in the United States.

Politics should better represent women

Having recently applied to law school and talked to my dad about the “optional essay,” which usually asks a diversity related question: i.e. “How can you contribute to the diversity of this campus?,” I realized women still have a long way to go. Speaking with him on the phone, I asked him what angle I could take on my diversity and how it will add to Georgetown Law School’s campus. I’m a white girl from the Midwest, so I didn’t think I had much to offer. “Well you know, women have made progress, but you’re still not equal to men,” my dad so brilliantly remarked. And, ding-ding-ding, a light bulb went off. Female political science students here at the University of Wisconsin- Madison—this column is dedicated to you, but male political science students should listen as well.

It's time to get rid of racist sports mascots

Students, take interest in your local government

As University of Wisconsin-Madison students, we have the obligation to participate in local government. We are not only students in Madison but also residents of the city. These roles come with the responsibility to be proactive about how we want to use resources and how to enact the changes we want to see in the city we live.

Middle school shooting demands reformation in gun control

If someone were to ask you what happened in Nevada this past Monday, how would you respond? Would you know to what they are referring? Maybe you would have guessed a casino heist or something extravagant. You probably had no idea that anything of importance happened in Nevada. But lo and behold, something very important and concerning happened this past Monday in Nevada, and I am willing to bet a majority of people had no idea occurred. The event I’ve been referring to is the Sparks Middle School shooting. In the shooting, a 12-year-old gunman wounded two of his classmates and killed a teacher before turning the gun on himself and committing suicide. According to law enforcement, the boy had taken the handgun used in the shooting from his parents. You may be asking yourself how did you not  hear about this event. The answer is: This shooting received very minimal media coverage and was not a major focus for news outlets. In fact, during the 5 p.m. news on Monday, it took almost 20 minutes before there was a mention of the shooting, and even then it was an extremely brief story.

Police serving to protect campus, not punish

Last week, The Daily Cardinal Editorial Board sat down with District 8 Ald. Scott Resnick to discuss current happenings in the downtown Madison area.

David Hookstead needs to shut up

In a recent Letter to the Editor published in the Badger Herald, University of Wisconsin-Madison junior David Hookstead outlined his feelings on the increased crime around campus. He proposes three steps to take to help lower crime: prioritize police attention, allow students with conceal-carry permits to carry guns on campus and for people to travel in groups specifically for women to travel in groups with a man. The latter two steps he offers are ridiculous proposals. Although I agree with him regarding the prioritization of police attention, his thinking on access to guns will likely create more problems than they solve and his assertion that travel in groups with men is what will protect us ignores the reality of circumstances around lots of crimes being alluded to.

Democrats should change tax agenda

In the process of running for office, every politician has to face the unavoidable question: are you going to raise taxes? So of course, as part of her new stint in politics Mary Burke was inevitably forced to answer the pesky tax question with the press. For Democrats like Burke, the question is cause for quite the controversy. The dilemma is to enact their programs. Democrats need a source of more revenue, but no politician wants to support raising taxes, especially a candidate running for election. So how do they say they’re not going to raise taxes when they really plan on doing so? Burke awkwardly answered that she would avoid raising state and local taxes but that she would make no pledge to actually do so.

Maybe this whole college thing is actually totally overrated

School is a lot of money.

Intervention in Syria may be necessary

To the eyes of the international community, it was nothing less than a Russian diplomatic coup. I am talking, of course, about negotiations between the United States and Russia over the fate of Syrian chemical weapons that took place last month in Geneva. In a situation that appeared to be inevitably spiraling towards United States’ intervention, the efforts of Russian President Vladimir Putin and his long trusted Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov have quietly stunned U.S. diplomats in their pragmatism and tact. The deal, which would allow United Nations weapons inspectors into Syria and create a realistic timeline to destroy all chemical weapons stockpiles, was welcomed by Syrian president Bashar al-Assad. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry remained skeptical about Syrian compliance, and warned that any faltering in the agreement on the side of Syria could result in U.S. military action.

Now is the time for Congress to ‘reboot’ with compromise

In the middle of a lethargic second term in which President Barack Obama and Congress have passed little meaningful legislation, Washington, D.C. has an opportunity to reboot. The narrow aversion of a federal default on its debt and temporary government shutdown have set up a budget conference, which is long overdue.

US cannot ignore ongoing gun violence

It is probable people will always strive to adjust to their surroundings. Previously, a large problem with gun violence was that our nation was lulled into a false sense of security between mass shootings. We were appalled by Columbine, Virginia Tech, Sandy Hook and too many other mass shootings. But as time passed after each horrific incident, we began to be unconcerned about gun violence until we were again shocked into caring by the next mass shooting. But, it seems to me that we may be moving away from becoming apathetic between shootings and instead, we are becoming apathetic toward the shootings even when they immediately occur. The news is filled with so many reports of mass shootings that it’s tempting to put the information out of our minds and focus on something more cheerful. The shootings today happen so frequently that there is no time to become apathetic between shootings, and we instead become apathetic directly in the face of them. We hear so many reports of shootings, and the reports eventually seem mundane to us.

Letter: Biblical translations are legitimate

I want to offer a few responses to Sara Vinson’s thoughtful piece on why the Bible is a poor source of religious authority. Let me say, at the outset, that I fully concur with her that the Bible contains factual errors, internal inconsistencies and some deeply problematic, ethically disturbing content. I am not trying to change Ms. Vinson’s mind in that regard.

Protecting your online reputation allows you to remain employable

Stop posting pictures or statuses about illegal activities on Facebook. According to Nolo-Law for All, two thirds of all recruiters and half of employers research their applicants’ online presence. Employers have been known to turn down applicants because of a negative photo, status or “about” page on their Facebook account.

Marijuana's classification hurts cause

The majority of people overwhelmingly support the legalization of medical marijuana, and by a small margin support full-scale legalization. So I think its time that these policy directors get together and figure out where they are going with this thing. These are two different directions with which Colorado has experimented. I seriously doubt that people who smoke pot would rather go to a doctor, pay him and then go to a store all under the cover that its for medicinal purposes (A lot of the time, it is) than just walk into 7/11 and buy their product. By defining this plant as two different things, both a medicine and recreational intoxicant, we’ve effectively made the road to legalizing both very difficult. Yes, classifying marijuana as a medicine was a smart idea from the start, however the states with medical marijuana programs are now aware of what is going on. They can’t stop someone from lying—they just cant. And the doctor in certain states, such as California, is inclined to give you the required card, receiving money for the approval.

Raising debt ceiling should be solely presidential power

This week Congress agreed to a deal to avoid economic self-destruction. President Barack Obama signed the deal within minutes of reaching the debt ceiling. Unfortunately, this deal did not include any measures to prevent Congress from imposing a self-inflicted wound yet again; it was simply a short term fix that punted the problem down the road until January. The debt-ceiling fight wasn’t even pushed back until after the midterm elections. Meeting the debt ceiling would have been unprecedented and dangerous. Because Congress has toyed with the dangerous notion of not raising the debt ceiling, the power to raise it should be unilaterally placed in the president’s power.