OPINION
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EDITORIALS
Seeking a Spectacle
By The Alligator Editorial Board | Feb. 13, 2011The game’s over, and our team won.
Opinion
OPINION
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EDITORIALS
Penney Pincher: Search engine abuse skews results
By The Alligator Editorial Board | Feb. 13, 2011Think for a moment about how much trust we put into Internet search engines like Google. They are our springboards to the otherwise nearly impenetrable expanse of information available online.
OPINION
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COLUMNS
Boycott hurts conservative movement
By Zack Smith | Feb. 13, 2011It may be “the economy, stupid,” but this weekend, the first shots were fired in the looming civil war among members of the GOP.
OPINION
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EDITORIALS
Darts and Laurels
By The Alligator Editorial Board | Feb. 10, 2011Love is in the air — or is it those droplets of water that can’t decide if they’re rain or fog? Either way, Valentine’s Day is Monday.
OPINION
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COLUMNS
Governor trying to streamline, not derail Florida education
By Sam Kowalczyk | Feb. 10, 2011Morgan Watkins’ subtle and professor Matheny’s not-so-subtle denouncements of Gov. Scott’s proposed cuts to education on the front page of Wednesday’s Alligator are, in a word, wrong.
OPINION
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EDITORIALS
On the Table: Budget tests Scott’s bargaining skills
By The Alligator Editorial Board | Feb. 9, 2011Looks like it’s time for our favorite dead-eyed, Voldemort-impersonating governor to backtrack.
OPINION
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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
America faces an education crisis
By Gelin Looi | Feb. 9, 2011During the 2010 winter break, I went home to my hometown, Johor Bahru, after four years. Johor Bahru is a major city in Malaysia, separated from Singapore by a thin strait. Singapore is also a rich, prosperous, technologically advanced and cosmopolitan first-world island country of no more than five million souls and less than 300 square miles of land. Comparatively, Malaysia, which is blessed with natural resources of tin, copper, rich soil and oil, languished in second place as a second-world country. Singapore also boosts one of the most highly educated populations, with a vibrant research and development sphere and highly regarded universities. My parents are such fervent believers in the power of education that all their children were educated there despite the costs and long transit time. Singapore students routinely take medals in Math and Science Olympiads and ace the British GCE systems. In contrast, Malaysia had been engaging in such a systematic educational regression that the University of Malaya, which once was regarded as the best college in Southeast Asia, is not even ranked in the top 100 today. The National University of Singapore, on the other hand, stands at 31, just four places behind UC Berkeley. My uncle told me that a Singaporean minister, while speaking at a top Malaysian high school, declared that any high-scoring students willing to study at a Singaporean university would be given green cards immediately, with all tuition, room and board paid for along with a monthly stipend. Needless to say, many stepped forward to take the offer.
OPINION
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COLUMNS
President walking Egyptian tightrope
By Chad Mohammed | Feb. 9, 2011What began in Tunisia as a modest protest against the lack of socioeconomic mobility has spread quickly throughout the entire Arab world, from Morocco in the West to Yemen in the East. However, the seeds of dissent flourished most in the 80 million-strong country of Egypt.
OPINION
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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Alligator unfairly favors Progess Party
By Aschelle Morgan | Feb. 9, 2011As an outgoing College of Journalism and Communications student and Unite Party student senator, I am accustomed to the clash of campus politics and the biannual debate over its campus media portrayal. However, the Alligator’s recent lack of journalistic integrity has morphed the publication’s role as an information medium into that of a politically charged message.
OPINION
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EDITORIALS
State of Depression
By The Alligator Editorial Board | Feb. 9, 2011Quantifying misery sounds unscientific at best, but we were still interested to see Forbes rank the 20 most miserable cities in America.
OPINION
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COLUMNS
Everyone faces AIDS risk
By Andrew Briefman | Feb. 9, 2011At least Brett Wagner didn’t use the, “But I have lots of gay friends,” excuse in his attack on the LGBT community in Monday’s paper.
OPINION
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EDITORIALS
Evolving Opinion: Educators dodge origin of life issue
By The Alligator Editorial Board | Feb. 8, 2011A recent survey of public high school biology teachers showed they aren’t sticking to the National Research Council’s recommendations on evolution. With 28 percent of the teachers focusing only on evolution and 13 percent advocating creationism within the classroom, we’re left with 60 percent quiet and not wanting to stir up controversy by endorsing one theory over another. Let’s recap: educators are shying away from supporting the principles they’re trying to teach simply because they are dealing with a touchy subject.
OPINION
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EDITORIALS
Unpatriotic Act
By The Alligator Editorial Board | Feb. 8, 2011Maybe House Republicans weren’t counting on their own turning their backs on the party. In a miscalculation, they brought a bill to renew components of the Patriot Act to the floor faster but required a two-thirds majority to pass. The yeas to renew outnumbered the nays, but the difference wasn’t large enough.
OPINION
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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Community service, not politics, deserves coverage
By Alex Becker | Feb. 8, 2011Once again, the Alligator has failed to understand its own shortcomings. Once again, the Alligator has openly flaunted its infatuation with Dave Schneider. Once again, the Alligator has neglected more important facts in order to reinforce the politics of SG that it so often sounds out against.
OPINION
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COLUMNS
Medieval faire fun for nearly everyone
By Wesley Campbell | Feb. 8, 2011If you didn’t make it out to the 25th Annual Hoggetowne Medieval Faire during these last two weeks, you missed out. I can hear the naysayers now: That little show is a nest of seedy Alachua County residents, their bawling, scurvy-ridden children and people with enough body hair to make you ponder when exactly shaving was invented. These are the kinds of people who blow their entire tax refund on anachronistic, dull-edged replica swords, furry-esque fox tails, hats and funnel cakes.
OPINION
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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Gun law information readily available
By J.T. HELM | Feb. 8, 2011I have been reading up on Florida Senate Bill 234. I suggest all of the people who have been debating this recently do the same. I am an avid and licensed hunter in the state of Florida and part of that privilege is learning the law. Because I am pursuing a concealed carry license, I have done just that. The law states that you must have a concealed carry license to open carry. Anyone visibly carrying will most assuredly be checked by police. So the idea that any student can carry is a ludicrous idea. You will be required to have a concealed permit, and you must be finger printed to have this license, so not everyone will be carrying these weapons. How many of the 50,000 are under 21, which is the legal age for concealed carry?
OPINION
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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Liberty allows reality TV to thrive
By Rob Myers | Feb. 8, 2011I think Laura Ellermeyer’s column Tuesday is all wrong. First off, there is nothing atrocious about McDonald’s except how awesome they are—but then that’s not really the point of her column; the ethical responsibilities of reality TV is the point.
OPINION
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COLUMNS
Lending a hand not a reality TV priority
By Laura Ellermeyer | Feb. 7, 2011Ah, reality TV.
OPINION
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EDITORIALS
Long Division
By The Alligator Editorial Board | Feb. 7, 2011It seems counterintuitive that a school board would vote to undo a policy which led to better schools all over the district.
OPINION
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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Educators don’t deserve so much criticism
By MATT MINGUS | Feb. 7, 2011Every weekday, my wife is responsible for educating more than 100 sixth-graders in an Alachua County public middle school.
