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Thursday, August 28, 2025

Opinion | Columns

Florida Alligator
OPINION  |  COLUMNS

Iranian youth rely on Twitter to inform world about elections

Abdul-Azim Mohammed was providing a play-by-play of the Iran Election early Sunday morning. Azim first reported that local police stations had been forced to burn ballot boxes filled with votes for Mir-Hossein Mousavi, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's presidential challenger. A few minutes later, Azim declared that Internet access and phone lines had been cut off. Later, Azim's reports of people filling the streets of Tehran were verified with BBC footage showing legions of angry young Iranians chanting "Death to the Dictator" in the streets.


Florida Alligator
OPINION  |  COLUMNS

Obama delivers with well-received speech in Egypt

President Barack Obama fulfilled another campaign promise last week after visiting Cairo, Egypt, and beginning a public dialogue with the Arabic world about the peace process. The president's speech in front of the Cairo University audience ran nearly an hour and evoked applause, shouts of adoration and a few awkward silences.


Florida Alligator
OPINION  |  COLUMNS

Steps must be taken to remedy economy

Politicians and the business press are looking for signs that the economic crisis is over, and we'll soon be back on track. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke speaks of "green shoots" of recovery. President Barack Obama sees "glimmers of hope."


Florida Alligator
OPINION  |  COLUMNS

GOP efforts to block Sotomayor reflect tired politics

Perhaps you've been too immersed in one more summer of undergraduate bliss before facing that life-defining LSAT or MCAT this fall. Or perhaps you've been debating the merits of Kobe Bryant's legacy if he fails to win a title without Shaq, or why all Hollywood seems to do now is remake old films instead of write new ones, to notice. If so, you are missing a show far more embarrassing than Kris Allen winning American Idol. This show is the hapless efforts of conservative activists to paint President Barack Obama's Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor as a liberal ideologue unfit for service. With figures such as Rush Limbaugh admitting the chances of stopping her nomination are minimal, the question must be asked: Why the rabid opposition in the first place?


Florida Alligator
OPINION  |  COLUMNS

No way to rationalize political ignorance

Recently, I read a letter to the editor of my hometown newspaper. The author had worked himself into a tizzy over President Barack Obama and the entire democratic leadership in Washington and their push for universal health care. He declared that any attempt at a universal health care system was an attempt at socialism and should be protested with equal zeal as one would protest Stalin's Red Army coming down the road.


Florida Alligator
OPINION  |  COLUMNS

Eco-awareness hitting the mainstream

In these heady times of global awareness and eco-knowledge, it seems the bad eco-news comes at you from every angle. Nobody is safe from the onslaught of negative press if even Google is under eco-scrutiny. A researcher this year claimed that a single Google search is worse for the environment than driving a car, mostly because of the way Google's "cloud computing" uses clusters of servers together at once to achieve superfast results for every single search.


Florida Alligator
OPINION  |  COLUMNS

Post-graduation marriage a bad idea

Not long ago, I had a friend, who was recently married, pull me aside in a men's room when I had brought a date to have dinner with him and his wife. The desperation in his eyes told me all I needed to know. "Please tell me you're going to sleep with this girl," he told me, "because I can't. My life is over. Look at me, look me in the eyes: Don't. Ever. Get. Married. You got that? Ever. Don't get me wrong, she's great, but she's ALWAYS THERE."



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