Opinion | Columns - The Independent Florida Alligator

OPINION | COLUMNS

America lacks vision after moonwalk

July 20, 2009

Walter Cronkite died Friday evening. He was 92. I think it/s fitting that the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moonwalk Monday is so close to Cronkite/s death. Out of all the clips of Cronkite/s broadcasts shown over the past few days, the veteran journalist seems least inhibited during the now famed broadcast of the lunar landing. Cronkite had even remarked that the Apollo 11 landing was the high point in his career because he was certain it would be the most important event of his lifetime. Unfortunately, it seems he was correct.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Moments of clarity make dreams fun

By ERIC CHIANESE | July 20, 2009

Dreams are probably one of my favorite things in the world. And, boy, have I had some doozies.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Student Body president questions Machen’s meddling

By Jordan Johnson | July 15, 2009

This fall many UF students will take the hour-and-a-half trek up to Jacksonville for the yearly tradition of the UF-Georgia football game. But if President Machen has his way, students will find a very different situation awaiting them in Jacksonville.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Alligator editorial fails to justify Sotomayor support with facts

By Benjamin Camenker | July 15, 2009

Tuesday's editorial regarding Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor was filled with much of the same "empathy" we expect Sotomayor to rule with, but little fact.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Politics without Palin lacks hilarity

By ERIC CHIANESE | July 13, 2009

So I refuse to be the only one who doesn/t give my two cents about this Palin resignation.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Web site scams students unaware of free credit report law

July 13, 2009

FreeCreditReport.com, the credit-reporting service owned by Experian, recently released its latest TV commercial in its ubiquitous "guy sings about his bad credit" ad campaign, which raises an important question: How the hell are these ads still on TV?

OPINION | COLUMNS

Population issues must be addressed

By THORAYA OBAID | July 13, 2009

None of the crises we face today - whether it is the food crisis, the water crisis, the financial crisis or the crisis of climate change - can be managed unless greater attention is paid to population issues.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Celebrity proves a distraction to voters

By ED MCPHEE | July 8, 2009

Al Franken is a funny guy. He is also intelligent and seems to understand the needs of his constituents. And Franken seems earnest in his desire to be a U.S. Senator. But despite all this, he should not have run for the position.

OPINION | COLUMNS

College degrees mean little without ambition to back them

By LIZ CARLSTON | July 8, 2009

Most people who go to college do so not because they enjoy sitting in stuffy lecture halls while listening to monotone-voiced professors, but so they can carve out a better place for themselves in the world when they graduate. Or at least, that's what most expect.

OPINION | COLUMNS

War-weary Americans turn to tabloids

July 6, 2009

Sometime last week in between the earth-shattering news that Michael Jackson, the OxiClean pitchman and Farrah Fawcett had all actually died within the same cosmic time frame, two significant news items went largely unnoticed.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Web site offers tips for lazy folks

By ERIC CHIANESE | July 6, 2009

So if any of you are like me, you're probably an incredibly lazy person. And I don't mean ordinary, run-of the-mill lazy - I mean you elevate it to an art form. There's nothing wrong with laziness, by the way, so don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Laziness - the desire to exert the least possible effort - has given rise to our most wonderful human ingenuities. If someone hadn't been too lazy to walk, we probably wouldn't have cars. If someone hadn't been too lazy to try and make a genuine connection with a woman, we probably wouldn't have such brilliant pick up lines as "Was your dad a baker, because your buns are out of this world!" The bottom line is that laziness keeps us sharp. Because of it we are ever-vigilant for the next thing that will make our lives easier and, in our own twisted way, richer.

OPINION | COLUMNS

U.S. should offer paid sick days to every American worker

By Rosemary Harris Lytle | July 1, 2009

For most Americans, the Fourth of July is a day for fireworks, concerts, parades and all manner of patriotic displays. It's as American as barbecue ribs and apple pie.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Energy bill needs strengthening before becoming U.S. law

By Billy Parish | July 1, 2009

The House recently passed the American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES), an important step toward protecting our environment and building a clean energy economy.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Dead celebrities don’t cease to charm

By ERIC CHIANESE | July 1, 2009

There are those rare moments that, in one fell swoop, remind us all of the ephemerality and fragility of life and, generally speaking, those moments come after a loss. We have all just experienced one of those moments - only this time it dragged on for days. In the span of one week, we lost Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, Michael Jackson and Billy Mays. All of them American icons and, now, all of them gone.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Media outlets focus too much on Iran

June 29, 2009

Like a bad version of "The Blair Witch Project," amateur video of riots and protests in Iran fill CNN's airwaves. Covering the turmoil in Iran has become en vogue, and publicly declaring one's alignment with Mir-Hossein Mousavi, the emblematic opposition candidate who lost in the last Iranian rigged election three weeks ago, has become as culturally trendy for some as a Free Tibet bumper sticker.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Power struggle in Iran mirrors mob wars

By ERIC CHIANESE | June 29, 2009

Just like the Corleones and the Tattaglias.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Failing economies shouldn't put pressure on friendships

June 17, 2009

One of the more ignored side effects of a recession is the toll it takes on friendships.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Government employees earn too much

By JOHNATHAN LOTT | June 17, 2009

Every summer we realize that another year has passed. We inch closer and closer to that terrible moment when we have to move beyond UF and figure out something to do with our lives.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Franken deserves seat in U.S. Senate

By ERIC CHIANESE | June 14, 2009

I sure hope that Minnesota can get used to being a congressional amputee.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Iranian youth rely on Twitter to inform world about elections

June 14, 2009

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.