Opinion | Columns - The Independent Florida Alligator

OPINION | COLUMNS

America must take pragmatic approach with China in future

By Guillermo R. Pradieu | Oct. 16, 2011

Americans rarely ever pay heed to international celebrations that honor the establishment of a foreign nation. On Oct. 9, the People's Republic of China celebrated the centennial of the 1911 Chinese Revolution. Aside the cacophony of other pressing matters, this event signifies three important issues all Americans should be concerned with: (1) the upcoming Fifth Generation of leadership, (2) potential foreign and economic issues and (3) the future of China.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Protesters need to understand system in order to make changes

By Matt Colbert | Oct. 16, 2011

Alex Guilmartin made a good point in his Thursday column, lamenting the fact that the loud protests of the Occupy Wall Street movement are full of sound and fury yet signify nothing.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Steve Jobs embraced life's hardships

By Akansha Mishra | Oct. 13, 2011

Recently, the world mourned the loss of a revolutionary figure: Steve Jobs. Jobs reconciled philosophy, courage and technology to significantly alter the way that we look at the world.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Anger is not enough to change the world

By Alex Guilmartin | Oct. 12, 2011

It appears that Occupy Gainesville is ready and raring to go.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Political system should protect citizens from greed

By Travis Pettengill | Oct. 12, 2011

I am writing this in response to Travis Hornsby's column, "Why I am no longer liberal-minded." With no disrespect to Hornsby (I agree with everything he said, in fact), he is not saying anything about the big picture. And I have to hand it to him for working for Kerry, the least likable and least articulate Democratic candidate in living memory.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Columnist needs to understand the poor, unprivileged

By Diana Moreno | Oct. 11, 2011

This is a response to Travis Hornsby's column from Monday called "Why I am no longer liberal-minded." I would much rather spend my post-work hours doing something relaxing rather than writing a guest column, but I must do something about the rage headache your column has caused me.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Fox's stubbornness, corporate greed almost killed ‘The Simpsons'

By Kaylanie Alvarez | Oct. 11, 2011

As Homer Simpson would say, "Woo Hoo!"

OPINION | COLUMNS

Why I am no longer liberal-minded

By Travis Hornsby | Oct. 9, 2011

In a recent response column to my piece on Social Security, the writer suggested that I came from a wealthy background and loved to walk all over the poor to get ahead.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Society should consider motivation for terrorism

By Zulkar Khan | Oct. 9, 2011

It has almost become axiomatic that terrorism does not stem from religious doctrine. Rather, the violence espoused by Muslim militants or preachers such as Anwar al-Awlaki remains rooted in political frustration.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Alabama immigration law not a solution

By Akansha Mishra | Oct. 6, 2011

The simple truth is that the repercussions of illegal immigration can be detrimental to our country. When dealing with this issue, we must keep our national self-interests in mind.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Al-Awlaki's death necessary

By Rahul Bhandari | Oct. 6, 2011

There is a very interesting thought experiment, widely referred to as the "Trolley Problem," which poses the question of whether to save a group of five people by diverting a trolley away from them toward a man laying in a hammock who would be killed instead.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Columnist loses an old debate

By Ford Dwyer | Oct. 5, 2011

Travis Hornsby got a few things wrong about Social Security in his Monday column.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Columnist’s Social Security argument used for fear-mongering

By Matt Schneider | Oct. 4, 2011

After reading his opinion piece on Social Security Monday, I was baffled when I saw that Travis Hornsby was a senior majoring in statistics and economics.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Thirty years later, becoming vegetarian ‘best decision’ of life

By Greg Allard | Oct. 4, 2011

This is in response to Sami Main's editorial "Vegetarian Options Should Not Be Feared." While applauding Sami's address to an often overlooked issue, I'd like to take it a step further and say that vegetarian options should be revered.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Obama blew it with Solyndra business

By Nicholas Butler | Oct. 4, 2011

Republicans: Your prayers for victory in 2012 just might have been answered.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Vegetarian options should not be feared

By Sami Main | Oct. 3, 2011

Why are people scared by vegetarian food choices?

OPINION | COLUMNS

Consumers should promote Fair Trade with chocolate purchases

By IRENE VAILIKIT | Oct. 3, 2011

Trick or Treat?

OPINION | COLUMNS

Social Security depletes government funds

By Travis Hornsby | Oct. 2, 2011

A few weeks ago, presidential candidate and Texas Gov. Rick Perry called Social Security a Ponzi scheme and was labeled as a far-right extremist. While his choice of words was indelicate, Social Security is a deeply flawed system that will not exist in its current form for anyone in college right now.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Corrupt government a bigger threat than big government

By Greg Allard | Oct. 2, 2011

The term "big government" has been loosely bandied about for several decades. Certainly it has been used to point out the over-spending by elected officials and their entities, something that now not only disturbs many of those in the higher tax bracket but also many people hurting in today's staggering economy.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Universities should be able to consider race during admissions process

By Lewis Kirvan | Oct. 2, 2011

Since the ‘90s, it's been a common right-wing practice to have a bake sale intended to demonstrate the inherent unfairness of using race as a factor in college admissions. White men get charged $2 for the brownies or muffins the Republicans baked to prove their point, while other races get charged a sliding scale based on the Republican protesters' perception of the severity of racial bias against different groups.