Opinion

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Worldwide violence is often overlooked

Tragedy opens a window into the soul of a people. In the midst of the horrific bombing attack at the Boston Marathon, and despite the possibility of more bombs detonating, scores of first responders rushed to risk their lives in the service of complete strangers. As just one of many examples of such selflessness and heroism, Dr. Natalie Stevens, who ran in the race, convinced the police to let her through the snow fences lining the streets. Stevens then administered CPR to a fallen woman and used a tourniquet to stem the bleeding of a man who very well might have died had she chosen instead, quite sensibly, to stay out of harm’s way.

Support for opiate abusers is much-needed

With Wisconsin’s richest citizens barely making ends meet under the tyrannical fist of socialism, the Wisconsin Office of Justice Assistance had the gall to give Dane County an $80,000 grant to counsel and treat opiate addicts. Why, one may ask, should we take precious money that could be going to more important things like rich people and instead put it toward helping heroin addicts? Well it’s actually a good idea and, in fact, more efforts should be made to reach out and treat those suffering from drug addiction.

What Christianity teaches about tragedy

In his first homily as the leader of the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Francis remarked, “When we do not profess Jesus Christ, we profess the worldliness of the devil, a demonic worldliness.” He wasn’t just talking about some abstract notion of the evil in humankind. He was referring to Satan, a recognized figure in Christian scriptures and a facet of theology since the beginning of the Catholic Church. Pope Paul VI remarked in a 1972 address, “The devil is the enemy number one, the source of all temptation… He is the sophistical perverter of man’s moral equipoise, the malicious seducer.” The church recognizes there is evil in the world. It attributes some of it to fallen human nature: to misguided, misinformed or downright malicious mortals. But it also attributes some evil to Satan, a spiritual and diabolical force who has it out for humans. If we look at Monday’s tragedy in Boston, we can see that yes, indeed, there is evil out there. This article is not intended to allege that the bombing was the direct work of Satan. Rather, I think we can learn a few lessons from Roman Catholic theology about the war between good and evil.

Doubting America's economic downers

A recent Gallup poll found 53 percent of Americans think China has the world’s No. 1 economy; less than a third think America has the leading economy. In 2000, just 10 percent of Americans misidentified China as the world’s leading economic power.

Seeking a middle ground in the affirmative action debate

Within the spectrum of most social issues, I fall into the moderate-left or the firm-left camps.  But there is one very salient issue of our time to which I often waver: affirmative action.  

Letter: Victim blaming undermines 'From victim to advocate'

Campus Women’s Center

MPD Mifflin statement a poor deterrent

The Madison Police Department released a statement last week that, in short, said the Mifflin Street Block Party is no longer a city sanctioned event, which only proves the MPD lacks confidence in Revelry as an alternative to the block party. Their statement is an insult to the people who have worked so hard on planning Revelry as well as the artists performing there.

May 4 event a puzzling "alternative"

University of Wisconsin-Madison students’ lively and noisy May 4 festivity, accompanied by large amounts of alcohol, is rapidly approaching. That’s right, Revelry is coming up! Confused? So are we.

Time for serious gun control legislation

Letter: Education reform a pressing issue

Perhaps there is no bigger civil rights issue of our time than education reform. The achievement gap between high and low-income children born in 2001 is 40 percent higher than it was in 1976, according to a Stanford report.

Earth as a mosque: environmental Islam

Ibrahim Abdul-Matin’s book, “Green Deen: What Islam Teaches about Protecting the Planet” begins, “the Earth is a mosque, and everything in it is sacred.” The quote is based off a hadith (a report of the Prophet Muhammad’s sayings, acts, approvals and disapprovals) which quotes the Prophet as  stating when the time comes for daily prayer, it is acceptable to pray  anywhere on Earth since, as mentioned above, the Earth itself is a mosque. Beyond determining protocol for fulfilling the daily prayer obligation, this hadith has been one of the foundations of the environmental movement within Islam; as Abdul-Matin relates, “Islam teaches a deep love of the planet, because loving the planet means loving ourselves and loving our Creator. That is to say, Islam teaches that we are all One.”

Obama's comment toward Kamala Harris pegged as sexist

This week, as the sixth season of “Mad Men” premieres, we can reflect on a few things. First, we are again treated to the entertainment and drama the AMC series, set in the 1960s, brings.  Second, we are reminded how far our society has progressed from a time when overt sexism and demeaning women was rampant in the workplace.

Gay marriage a civil right, not destructive

In 1896 the United States Supreme Court heard the case of Plessy v. Ferguson and upheld, by all but one vote, the constitutionality of a state law requiring racial segregation in public facilities under the principle of “separate but equal.” For a country only decades removed from the abolition of slavery, the catalyst for the bloodiest war in our nation’s history, “separate but equal” seemed like a logical, safe, and conservative step in the right direction after slavery, even if it was a retreat from full equality. The Supreme Court made clear with its decisive ruling, that the country was not ready to embrace people with a different skin color as equal citizens. However, with the hindsight of history, it is clear that “separate but equal” prolonged discrimination by providing a supporting rationale, rather than aiding progress toward full equality.

ADHD medication dangerous for students

After hours of endless studying, do have trouble focusing?  Could you benefit from the ability to concentrate better?  Who couldn’t, right?  Well, over the course of the past few years, a trend has swept the nation: Doctors are diagnosing students with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD and prescribing them medication to alleviate their symptoms. 

Bipartisanship still alive in Connecticut

The polls were open last week and it was refreshing to see a “Non-Partisan” on the ballot; however, in a conversation with one of my peers, I was informed that she needed to look up the candidate’s parties before she went to vote so she could vote Democrat across the board. At first, it seemed like a perfectly normal thing to do, but on second thought I began to realize how much I didn’t like that method of voting. I have made the same mistake before. I am a proud Democrat, after all. I came from a Democratic, left-leaning family and I was raised to believe the things the Democrats stand for are right. I guess that is where most of us get our political views, which is fine, unless we close our minds and widen the gap between the parties. If we are at the point where we don’t examine the candidates and what they stand for and instead vote for them simply because they are a Republican or Democrat, we are spoiling the great right that we have to vote and to express our opinions.

Letter: Sexual assault clouded by myths, supported by culture

April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month, and across the nation students will engage in events to spread awareness and discuss the prevention of sexual assault.

Recall reform rudely restricts rights

Imagine you are an employer and you have an employee you can’t fire. As long as they don’t do anything illegal, you simply don’t have the power to terminate them and must continue to pay them regardless of their job performance. Now imagine this employee has the responsibility of managing the entire business. Would you be entirely comfortable with that?

Gay marriage a matter of equal civil rights, not privilege

Leaders refuse to admit mistake of Iraq

This March marked the ten-year anniversary of the onset of the Iraq War, now widely regarded as one of the biggest foreign policy catastrophes in American history. Exactly 4,488 Americans lost their lives in the war, alongside a minimum of 120,000 Iraqis, with some studies placing the Iraqi death toll as high as 1.5 million. On top of this sickening and incomprehensible carnage, at least four million Iraqis have been displaced, half of them fleeing the country and the other half relocating within Iraq. U.S. taxpayers have financed this venture to the tune of two trillion dollars, with the ultimate bill likely to run anywhere between four and six trillion dollars when factoring in the costs of health care and disability payments for returning soldiers, including the 253,000 troops who suffered traumatic brain injuries, according to a report by Linda Bilmes of Harvard University.

Coral reefs being pushed to destruction by human forces

I first experienced the Florida Keys’ awe-inspiring beauty while on spring break a decade ago. As anyone who has visited here will tell you, the Keys’ turquoise water is majestic, its sport fishing is exceptional and its coral reefs breathtaking.