Opinion - The Daily Cardinal

OPINION

Obama's drone program dangerous for Americans

By By Jon Vruwink | Feb. 7, 2013

An impending investigation pertaining to the legality of drone strikes by Ben Emmerson, the U.N. special rapporteur on human rights and counterterrorism, offers a vital opportunity to reflect upon the morality and efficacy of a technology that has become a hallmark of President Barack Obama's foreign policy. The expansion and entrenchment of this capability as a central component of U.S. military power under Obama's tenure has received far too little discussion, especially in light of disturbing findings regarding the extent of civilian casualties and psychological trauma resulting from this targeted killing program.

OPINION

Mayor Soglin weighs in on homelessness

By by The Daily Cardinal Editorial Board | Feb. 7, 2013

The Daily Cardinal’s Editorial Board met with Mayor Paul Soglin last week for over an hour. The Mayor opened with an informal statement of his priorities and how Madison has changed in the past 20 years. He continued to answer our questions about several of the topics you see below. Here are some of our thoughts on the areas of the city that Soglin commented on regarding the issue of homelessness.

OPINION

Legal status needs to be more accessible

By By: Matt Beaty | Feb. 5, 2013

The Senate and President Barack Obama recently released separate, but fairly similar, outlines for immigration reform. Since immigration policy has been a dismal failure for multiple decades, it is an exciting prospect to see the federal government “fix the system.” Unfortunately, neither the Senate’s Gang of Eight proposal nor President Obama’s proposal will do anyone much good in the long run.

OPINION

Defining life and when it begins underlies abortion debate

By By Tom Jensen | Feb. 5, 2013

Greetings, fellow Badgers. My name is Tom Jensen and I am a senior majoring in Religious Studies. As such, this column will focus on religious topics and hopefully shed some light on why certain religious groups do and think as they do. If you have a topic you would like me to cover, or if you feel I misrepresented a certain group, please feel free to contact me. Additionally, if you disagree with anything I say, let’s get a good old-fashioned newspaper debate going. Write a letter to the editor. Call me out. It will be way more exciting than watching “The Office” on Netflix, so I guarantee a response.

OPINION

Super Bowl XLVII super disappointing

By By Jonny Shapiro | Feb. 4, 2013

First, let’s get this straight. I’m a huge football fan. Super Bowl Sunday is one of my favorite days out of the year. Football. Wings. Drinking. The only thing that would make it better would be if my favorite team had actually made the big game. Sadly, though, they did not. And so, for the 18th time in my life, I sat through a game that has absolutely no bearing on my fandom. Only this time, I took notes. On everything but the game.

OPINION

Gun control loophole poses potential threat to arm criminals

By by Mike Brost | Feb. 4, 2013

We’re a nation of 315 million constitutional law scholars. Most Americans avoid the legalese of their credit card contracts like the plague. But the Constitution and specifically the Second Amendment? No problem—we know exactly what it means. But the fact is what you or I think about the Second Amendment is pretty meaningless, because it’s the Supreme Court’s interpretation that counts.

OPINION

Modern times aching for liberal left

By By Michael Cruz | Feb. 4, 2013

The thought of speaking out against the actions of a government that may have you killed or imprisoned without trial is petrifying. The war on terror that has defined our previous decade as a nation has wreaked havoc on our civil liberties, further destroyed our global reputation, and deceived a once respected political system.

OPINION

Ethnic studies requirement constrictive

By By Tyler Davis and Leah Leonidas | Feb. 3, 2013

The Daily Cardinal recently reported that a roundtable dinner will be held by the Associated Students of Madison Diversity Committee to entertain the possibility of reforming the mandatory ethnic studies requirement.

OPINION

Wisconsin’s proposed mining bill not a good deal for the state

By By: Mitch Taylor | Jan. 31, 2013

Happy Friday, everyone. First off, thanks a bunch for not being too hungover to read the paper this morning. After all of the “hard work” and “thought” I put into these, it’s nice to have people read them. This one is about some new politics in the controversial world here in Wisconsin. Months ago, a piece of legislation that would have brought changes to our mining laws was defeated in Wisconsin’s state legislature. The bill would have paved the way for a new iron mine in northern Wisconsin. Now, with a legislative majority, proponents of the bill are trying again. They say the mine would provide thousands of jobs in Wisconsin and serve as a great boost for the economy. Opponents say the bill guts governmental regulations and the mine would be devastating to the environment. I think these environmental concerns should be taken much more seriously by proponents of the bill.

OPINION

David Clarke's aggressive endorsement

By Abby Becker and by The Daily Cardinal Opinion Staff | Jan. 31, 2013

Every Friday, The Daily Cardinal’s Opinion Staff weighs in on a topic. This week, David Clarke, Milwaukee’s Sheriff, advised the citizenry of Milwaukee to arm themselves in order to protect themselves better in a publicly funded radio ad.

OPINION

ASM may be too expansive to fully represent student body

By by David Ruiz | Jan. 31, 2013

The University of Wisconsin-Madison is a special place for a million reasons: top notch academics, competitive and exciting athletics, inspiring professors et cetera et cetera. One of the most important, and perhaps the most unrecognized feature that makes UW-Madison so unique is the shared governance relationship between students and administrators. In fact, Wisconsin law dictates that students must be a part of the allocation of their segregated fees. The importance of student representation in important budget and educational decisions on campus cannot be undersold. Unfortunately, the structure of our student government has become bloated and inefficient and is in desperate need of a dramatic overhaul.

OPINION

Political rhetoric overshadows the issues

By By Nikki Stout | Jan. 31, 2013

Often times the rhetoric surrounding an issue becomes the issue itself. Emotional hang-ups and the ever-present argument of deeming something “unconstitutional” can overwhelm the issue at hand, and that can not only hinder solving that problem, it can also blow the problem out of proportion and then lead an effort to fix things that aren’t broken.

OPINION

Israel ready for peace, waiting on Hamas

By by Zac Pestine | Jan. 29, 2013

In 1917, when it became clear that Britain was to take temporary control of the land known as Palestine, which had previously been ruled over by the Ottoman Empire, British Foreign Secretary Lord Arthur James Balfour immediately issued a statement in favor of the construction of a Jewish state, which had already been conceived of many decades beforehand.

OPINION

Modern voters are looking for "more" from elected officials

By By Nikki Stout | Jan. 29, 2013

With John Kerry being confirmed as the new secretary of state, Hillary Clinton is now able to manage her health, as well as possibly, a spot on the 2016 presidential ballot. As the former secretary of state has left her desk in positive standing, she is in the perfect position to go for the presidency. If this is the case, and if she were to win that election, then it will be clear America has entered a new age of politics, where the image of the politician is no longer that of the savior.

OPINION

Wisconsin's extra $137 million should be invested wisely, not cut

By by David Ruiz and The Daily Cardinal Arts Columnists | Jan. 28, 2013

Last week, the Legislative Fiscal Bureau released an estimate of Wisconsin’s budget surplus that exceeded preliminary estimates by $137 million. Gov. Scott Walker’s administration has announced that it plans to use the extra funding in order to give a tax break to Wisconsin families in a terribly unsurprising move. Considering the extreme budget cutting techniques done in the name of state debt, a tax rebate is hardly the innovative way of building tax base that Wisconsin needs.

OPINION

Higher education neglected at great cost

By by Mike Brost | Jan. 28, 2013

Last year was a rough year for students at public universities, as state legislatures throughout the country continued to cut funding to their universities. Nationwide, states underwent one of the largest divestments in higher education in American history, slashing funding by 7.6 percent. And in 2011, for the second consecutive year, state and local funding to public universities reached a quarter-century low despite the fact that enrollment and the cost of educating students reached near-record highs.

OPINION

Polling policies need more structure

By By Tyler Davis | Jan. 27, 2013

During the last presidential election, multiple hour-long lines prevented an estimated 200,000 people in Florida from voting. For reference, that’s more than twice President Barack Obama’s margin of victory in the state.

OPINION

An imaginary conversation with a gun control advocate

By By: Steven Nemcek | Jan. 24, 2013

“Steven, no one needs an AR-15 semi-automatic assault rifle in their everyday lives. No one needs a 30 round magazine. That gun was used in the Aurora theater massacre, and Adam Lanza brought that gun to the scene of the crime at Sandy Hook. Hunters and collectors don’t need that kind of firepower. That gun is overkill for self-defense purposes,” my leftist friend said.

OPINION

Obama's pledge to the past, present and future

By By Nikki Stout | Jan. 22, 2013

President Barack Obama made history last weekend as the first two-term president to be sworn into office a total of four times. His progressive speech called to attention the issues of gay rights, environmental awareness and immigration reform. Throughout his career, Obama has modeled his public persona after critical political personalities of the 1960s. This repetitive illusion creates implications of not only how he is forming his legacy, but the direction in which he wants to drive the country. Obama’s pledge to continue that reform gives us hope that progressive action will be taken once again, and that America will be a leader in social change.

FOOTBALL

The business of ball: working and sweating for free

By By Tyler Davis | Jan. 21, 2013

College football isn’t just a sport. College football is a business. With Bret Bielema, the former head coach of the Badgers, leaving a $2.7 million salary for a $700,000 raise, we’re reminded of the amount of money that changes hands. Consider that the Big Ten generates hundreds of millions of dollars per year solely from licensing of television rights and you’ll gain insight into just how huge the industry is. The television networks make millions, the advertising agencies make millions, and the coaches make millions. There’s only one group that’s left out: the players.