Opinions - The Independent Florida Alligator

OPINION | LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

UPD’s CIRT officers are unqualified

By Jacob Power | Apr. 7, 2010

It goes without saying that students should not have to fear the police who are employed to protect them. Kofi Adu-Brempong’s incident is surely a moment the University Police Department should learn from. But the student organizations calling for the end of the Critical Incident Response Team are clearly missing the point.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Amendment Zero: solution for ‘Kongress’

Apr. 7, 2010

One of the great mysteries of our time is the paradox of state government. Every few years, each state in our great union selects the brightest and most talented descendants of privilege and sends them away to plot out the boundaries of our daily lives. Just like clockwork, these seemingly divine figures time and again fail to deliver on their promises and the effulgent nature of their haircuts.

OPINION | LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Editorial Board should pull the stick out and have more fun

By Ezra Noon-Song | Apr. 6, 2010

Dear anonymous, uptight dude who hates the Humans vs. Zombies game: You suck. Life’s too short to hate on others who are enjoying themselves, be they nerd, jock, or a jerk like you. This game is an international hit, and one out of every 50 UF students are registered to play. Registration for this game is double that of February’s game. But, not you. No, you’re too busy hating others who are breathing way too much of your oxygen as they run past you with grins, Nerf guns and fake blood on their faces. So guy, pull the stick out, have a little fun, and purge the green monster from your soul or you will be forever unhappy — a fate worse than being an actual zombie.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Students should consider working for the federal government

Apr. 6, 2010

It’s just about that time of year again. If you are an underclassman like me, the economy is still looking down and you could use a well-paying internship or job to get you through the summer. For those UF seniors about to enter the real world, the job market is looking especially rough.

OPINION | LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Nerf gun ban important

By William H. Arthur IV | Apr. 6, 2010

I think the Nerf gun ban is important, because we have an undertrained, undereducated police department that has consistently demonstrated incompetence in making emergency decisions. I mean really, how many AR-15 rifle shots to the head to we need to understand that?

OPINION | EDITORIALS

Bad Bill: Senate Bill 6 harms Florida’s teachers

By The Alligator Editorial Board | Apr. 6, 2010

Even with all the responsibilities on their plates, Florida teachers need to keep on their toes with Senate Bill 6 hovering over their heads.

OPINION | LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Cartoonist should not have portrayed rabies as ridiculous cause

By Annie Martin | Apr. 6, 2010

Carly Coleman’s portrayal of rabies as a “ridiculous cause” recognized in April perfectly illustrates one of the many reasons rabies awareness is important: ignorance. Rabies causes horrific deaths in people and animals, and not all cases are so far distanced from our American microcosm. Rabies is a viral disease that infects the central nervous system, and once clinical signs are apparent, the disease is essentially 100 percent fatal in all species.

OPINION | EDITORIALS

Tea-bags

By The Alligator Editorial Board | Apr. 6, 2010

We hate to keep writing about the ridiculous antics of the Tea Party because it makes us worried that any discussion of them will give them more power. That said, we thought about it but decided that shining a light on all of their insane behaviors is better than being afraid to talk about them.

OPINION | LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Editorial made too big of deal out of Humans v Zombies

By Ashleigh Moss | Apr. 6, 2010

I was thrilled to find myself chuckling at reading the editorial on the Humans vs. Zombies game. Even players should have a laugh at their nominated status, as if life as we know it veered into some off-beat version of “Revenge of the Nerds,” and the writer somehow imagined himself as the jock on campus (though said writer may not laugh when jocks get zombie fever, too).

OPINION | COLUMNS

GOP spending ironic given principles

Apr. 6, 2010

Despite being the party of fiscal responsibility, Republicans have gotten into a hot mess over their party’s spending.

OPINION | COLUMNS

In love, actions speak louder than words

Apr. 5, 2010

I think it’s fair to say there are few phrases in the English language that are more emotionally loaded than “I love you.” For that matter, it’s probably fair to say there are few phrases that are more regularly abused and misused than those three words.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Students should take stand

By Dave Schneider | Apr. 5, 2010

I was standing on Turlington Plaza Monday with some members of the Coalition for Justice Against Police Brutality, telling students walking by about the shooting of Kofi Adu-Brempong by the University Police Department. As we were handing out fliers for today’s protest, a girl stopped me and asked me about the incident. To no fault of her own, she said she hadn’t heard anything about it and wanted to know how UPD could possibly shoot an international student on campus.

OPINION | LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Zombie editorial disappointing

By Dunai Harris | Apr. 5, 2010

I am disappointed by the stance the Editorial Board took in Monday’s editorial “Zombie Nation.” Humans vs. Zombies is just a master game of tag that unites all different kinds of students across UF’s campus in a game that makes the boring walk to class more interesting for a week.

OPINION | EDITORIALS

3-D(on’t)

By The Alligator Editorial Board | Apr. 5, 2010

What is the deal with 3-D?

OPINION | LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Column about Catholic Church sex scandal misses mark

By Wesley Bivins | Apr. 5, 2010

Paul Murty made several appalling claims in his column last Friday. First, he claimed there were “pretty valid reasons” for the cover-ups of sexual abuse. The only reason he gave is a shortage of priests. Is that a reason to cover up child sex abuse? What about a teacher shortage? Then he claimed “people seem to think that these problems are only in the Catholic Church,” implicitly blaming the media for the misconception.

OPINION | EDITORIALS

Playing It Safe: Housing department’s Nerf gun ban overkill

By The Alligator Editorial Board | Apr. 5, 2010

First it was the hippies and communist professors who were corrupting our children’s minds with radical concepts such as gravity and the letter “Q.” Then it was those damn femi-Nazis who wanted to turn our prom queens into jezebels who choke down birth control pills like Skittles.

OPINION | LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

UF should be concerned with state’s education issues, not its rank

By CHRIS MOODY | Apr. 4, 2010

Yesterday, I was invited to a group on Facebook called “Make UF Florida’s Flagship School.” I appreciate the support for UF, but as a Floridian this horrifies me. We are all Gators at UF, and we all want to be seen as the best in Florida. While I refuse to take a stance on whether we are better than that other school, this is the wrong approach.

OPINION | LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

No one is offended by ladies nights

By DANIEL DANTA | Apr. 4, 2010

There appears to be no limit to what busybody bureaucrats like Gainesville’s Equal Opportunity Director Cecil Howard will

OPINION | EDITORIALS

Dr. No: Anti-Obama doctor is practicing discrimination

By Alligator Editorial Board | Apr. 4, 2010

We knew people would be fighting against the health care changes, but somehow people always manage to surprise us with exactly how far they will go, planting their feet and digging their nails into the wall if they have to, in order to resist change.

OPINION | EDITORIALS

Zombie Nation

By Alligator Editorial Board | Apr. 4, 2010

Just when you thought it was safe to cross the Turlington minefield, another socially aimless specimen is trying to rise from the graveyard of “who gives a crap?”