Opinions - The Independent Florida Alligator

OPINION | COLUMNS

France is misrepresented as having ‘clean’nuclear programs

By Linda Gunter | Jan. 19, 2010

It is perhaps no accident that the nuclear power industry chose a French word, “renaissance,” to promote its alleged comeback. Attached to this misapplied moniker are a series of fallacious suggestions that nuclear energy is “clean,” “safe” and even “renewable.” And, in keeping with its French flavor, a key argument in the industry’s propaganda arsenal is that the U.S. should follow the “successful” example of the French nuclear program.

OPINION | LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Ignoring local church is the only solution

By Nora F. Zaki | Jan. 19, 2010

In response to Paul Murty’s column: Thank you for your intelligent column on Friday about ignoring the Dove World Outreach Center members when they preach intolerantly on campus.

OPINION | COLUMNS

UF should not require health insurance

By CYNTHIA DESPRES | Jan. 19, 2010

After my father lost his job in November 2008, my family’s health insurance coverage lapsed. Although he found work — and, consequently, coverage for himself — in April, the rest of the family can’t join until March 2010. So, for the only year my mother and I have ever been without insurance, we have tiptoed through our lives, avoiding what health risks we could.

OPINION | EDITORIALS

Blonde Moment: ‘Gossip Girl’ star too self-involved

By The Alligator Editorial Board | Jan. 19, 2010

It’s been one week since the earthquake hit Haiti, and people across the campus, country and world are joining together to provide relief for those affected.

OPINION | EDITORIALS

Winter Warning

By The Alligator Editorial Board | Jan. 19, 2010

With winter setting in and word of the FDA cracking down on barely visible tanning bed warnings, the Editorial Board is urging students to forgo sun-kissed bronze in favor of pasty white — or even Gators-themed fake orange.

OPINION | LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Alligator should take domestic violence more seriously

By Mary D. | Jan. 18, 2010

I was flipping through some of last week’s articles and took issue with some of the articles you chose to run. First off, in “Chris Brown deserves a second chance,” Michelle Profis talks about still listening to Chris Brown’s music. How is this news? Obviously you noticed that this article would leave some people questioning the writer’s real attitude toward domestic violence because you put a disclaimer on it. Why not just pull the whole article? The author denies condoning domestic violence vehemently but then backtracks by saying just because he’s young and “talented” we should throw more money at him. The writer shows she doesn’t understand the seriousness of the crime by starting the article off by calling it “classic celebrity catastrophe,” as if it were just a wardrobe malfunction. It’s bad enough that celebrities routinely get off lightly for what would be heinous crimes if committed by you or me, but when you publish these kinds of opinions as mainstream thought, you only further the mentality that we accept this kind of behavior.

OPINION | LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Article that diminished those who refrain from drugs, alcohol is shameful

By Gunner Japp | Jan. 18, 2010

I was reading Thursday’s Alligator when I came across an article about revenge cheating. As I was reading the article, I read a sentence that claimed most people will be cheated on unless they are all-knowing or “one of those weirdos” who’s sober all the time. I find it ridiculous and irresponsible that a college newspaper, read by thousands of binge-drinking and drug-abusing students, would go as far as to label people who refrain from drugs and alcohol as “weirdos.” You are doing a disservice to our community and school by advocating the use of drugs through the condemnation of people choosing to remain abstinent. The Alligator has a moral and social responsibility to try and encourage a safe and healthy environment, not to reinforce the idea that everyone uses drugs and alcohol and those who don’t are “weirdos.” I am afraid that comments like this provide the acceptance and social proof necessary to foster unhealthy behaviors like drug and alcohol abuse. As a school and community, we should try to avoid the negative stigma associated with being one of the top five party schools in the country each year. We should start by looking at our attitudes and beliefs toward drugs and alcohol, and, at the very least, we shouldn’t promote drug use and abuse by condemning those who choose not to use drugs. I’m ashamed this statement was written, approved by the editors and printed for the entire community and Student Body to read. Hopefully, you will be more careful in the future.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Robertson’s words hurt the cause

By Paul Runnestrand | Jan. 18, 2010

If you listen to geologists, they will tell you the reason the massive earthquake occurred in Haiti last week had to do with seismic activity, fault lines and tectonic plates. At first glance, it’s a believable explanation. But the Rev. Pat Robertson proposes another answer that deserves consideration. Not consideration of its validity but rather consideration as to why in the world he would say such a thing.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Infidelity should not be normalized

Jan. 18, 2010

My colleagues at the Alligator, Amelia Harnish and Jared Misner, wrote a defense — or at least a justification — of infidelity in their Jan. 14 Avenue column at www.bit.ly/secretscrewing.

OPINION | EDITORIALS

Gallant Gator: UF student made hero by saving professor

By The Alligator Editorial Board | Jan. 18, 2010

UF student David Feinstein did a little more than work out Saturday night when he went to the gym.

OPINION | EDITORIALS

Covert Christianity

By The Alligator Editorial Board | Jan. 18, 2010

An ABC News investigation, which discovered a supplier of high-powered rifles to the U.S. military has been printing coded Bible verses on the weapons, has the Editorial Board wondering what’s up with secret evangelism.

OPINION | COLUMNS

If we ignore them, they’ll go away

By PAUL MURTY | Jan. 14, 2010

People of UF: In my first official column as the Friday columnist for the largest student-run newspaper in the country, I want to touch on a very important issue on campus — the provoking and condemning preachers. This isn’t a blanket statement for all preachers on campus, but only those who are hatefully insulting for the purpose of garnering attention.

OPINION | EDITORIALS

Darts & Laurels

By Alligator Editorial Board | Jan. 14, 2010

As classes start to heat up and that first test of the semester is looming on the horizon, the Department of Darts & Laurels is thankful Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Plenty of options for helping Haiti

By ASHLEY ROSS | Jan. 14, 2010

The 7.0-magnitude earthquake that hit Haiti on Tuesday is the worst to shake the country in 200 years, claiming the lives of up to 50,000 people and affecting more than 3 million people world wide, according to the American Red Cross. The disaster has left a country already stricken with political instability, poverty and humanitarian conflict in an even more devastating state. So, in the wake of the tragedy, it’s important for us to ask ourselves: What can we do to help?

OPINION | COLUMNS

‘Jersey Shore’: The new Roman Empire?

Jan. 13, 2010

Much has been made of the fall of the Roman Empire in the media over the last few years, especially as our own American empire has come under deservedly intense scrutiny.

OPINION | EDITORIALS

From the sports desk

By The Alligator Editorial Board | Jan. 13, 2010

It’s the beginning of the semester, which means spending an inordinate amount of time consulting ISIS, deciphering syllabi and griping about Rec Sports’ intramural department.

OPINION | EDITORIALS

Keep the change Crist’s tax holiday too little, too late

By The Alligator Editorial Board | Jan. 13, 2010

The Editorial Board would like to respectfully tell Charlie Crist he can keep his tax-free holiday.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Torture never justified in war

By Nick Miner | Jan. 13, 2010

There are a good number of people who believe in the hypothetical situation that torture is justified in the ticking time bomb scenario. That is, a nuclear or biological weapon is about to detonate and kill thousands, maybe millions of people.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Census questions display ignorance

By Lily Bruns | Jan. 12, 2010

When I saw a link for the spanking new “race and ethnicity” guidelines from the U.S. Census Bureau plastered across the ISIS homepage, I had to check it out.

OPINION | EDITORIALS

Just do it: Senators should allow students to vote on fee

By The Alligator Editorial Board | Jan. 12, 2010

The Editorial Board would like to encourage Student Government senators to do the right thing. Just this one time. Please.