Celine Dion. Geddy Lee. Warren Moon’s career. Drake (the rapper, not the Nickelodeon TV star). And hockey.
On Tuesday, I attended the Gainesville Area Chamber of Commerce Candidate forum for County Commission candidates. About a hundred business owners showed up to hear the vision of the six candidates for Alachua County. One common theme prevailed: the burden on local business from all levels of government has to subside for the health of the local economy. Increased taxation was shied away from by candidates from both parties. Consistently, all the candidates said we can either be dragged down by the national economic situation, or we find ways to improve upon it.
Public education is the cornerstone of our nation’s economic might. When we make a true commitment to educating a future generation, we are not only producing a workforce that is better equipped to tackle the problems of today, but we are planting the seeds for the innovation of tomorrow. If we are going to prepare our children for the future, I believe Florida must change its course and make a proper investment in public education.
There is something very unsettling in the way modern society is beginning to parallel the fictional worlds presented by writers such as Orwell, Huxley and Rand. From the disturbing similarities between contemporary texting language and Orwell’s Newspeak to the health care battles that still continue to rage in Congress, it is undeniable that, at some point in the last 50 years, the line between fact and fiction began to blur.
The recent Gulf oil spill has become more than a tragedy, and the Obama administration has more than botched the response. This crisis illuminates the administration’s lack of leadership. Unfortunately for Americans, we see a president too tangled in a web of bureaucracy, ego and inexperience to appropriately handle the situation. It was well-worded in a recent column by Mark Steyn: “He has grand plans for ‘the environment’ - all of it, wherever it may be. Why should the great eco-Gulliver be ensnared by some Lilliputian oil spill lapping ‘round his boots?”
The Board of Trustees did its job. Instructed by President Machen to (as quoted in the Alligator) “wrassle” with the new student fees, the board did just that. What is “wrassle,” you say?
Bryan Griffin’s article “Individual action key to conservation” seems to strongly evoke his Republican role model, Bobby Jindal, the governor of Louisiana, and his limp response to President Obama’s State of the Union address. In his piece, he manages to convey such base ideas as “Liberals bad” and “Regulation bad.” OK, so you can’t blame him for paraphrasing the GOP manifesto. But beyond the standard partisan hackery, Mr. Griffin offers several gems that are simply too precious to ignore.
We have all seen it on our Facebook news feeds – friends and family posting pictures of their worldly travels. For many students, classes and obligations have dwindled, and those lucky enough to find funding have taken the opportunity to explore exotic destinations.
I know you all have heard so much about how important it is to fill out the 2010 Census, but this is the final stretch.
By now you’re probably in “lazy-days-of-summer” mode. Staying up late doing nothing productive. Sleeping in. Wanting to lay out by the pool. Thinking and moving in slow-motion.
For too long, environmental conservation has been a cause championed by liberals. Even though most members from both sides of the political spectrum, myself included, recognize the importance of environmental preservation and want to work to protect our planet, only liberals seem to lay claim to the issue.
It is love at first sight. It is a Thursday afternoon, and you are exhausted, waiting on the bus and eager to get home.
Like most college students, I am quite tied to my Facebook account and have put much of my life on the ever-growing social network. When I first heard about Facebook four years ago, I promised myself I would never sign my deal with the devil and get an account. Four years later and here I am, one of those people who logs on at least twice a day to update myself on things that the website says I care about.
I love a good Internet political meme. Most political junkies have their inner circles of friends on an email list-serve that they use to distribute particularly funny or applicable memes. It can be a very enjoyable hobby.
As a corporation, British Petroleum is deeply saddened by the recent leaks in our interwebs tube that have pumped out an ever-increasing number of highly sensitive and damaging internal documents into the vital Gulf of Public Opinion. We have prepared the following memo as a “top kill procedure” on the destructive flow of information by piping loads of crap into real leaks of BP’s corporate philosophy:
A couple of weeks ago, at the tender age of 19, I finally got my Florida driver's license. After a three-year saga of excuses and missed opportunities, I finally sucked it up and studied hard enough to pass - despite running over a cone and failing my first attempt. While pretty much all college students and young drivers can relate to the experience, I feel like I have a unique view of the whole process.
Last spring, an extraordinary event occurred in Student Government: Members of the Progress and Orange and Blue parties put aside their differences and created a brand-new party that represents all students, not just the lucky few. This new party, the Student Alliance party, immediately got to work by opposing the new Reitz Union student fee. We felt that in times of great economic hardship, the Unite Party was wrong to pass the buck on to the Student Body.
Thomas Jefferson once said, “All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent.”
In recent weeks, we have seen natural disasters and incidents that have irreparably stained many parts of our nation.
Sens. Andy Gardiner and Mike Haridopolos introduced two amendments to a bill in the Florida House of Representatives that would restrict women’s access to abortion. The bill and the two amendments passed in the House and Senate last week. Florida now waits for Gov. Charlie Crist to either sign or veto the bill, which has not yet come to his desk. Once it does, he has 15 days to decide.
Solutions by The State News
