Opinions - The Independent Florida Alligator

OPINION | LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

SG should adopt resolution denouncing Goldstone report

By Jordan Greenberg | Nov. 2, 2009

Of many issues to be presented at the Student Senate meeting tonight, one is a resolution calling for the Student Senate to denounce the Goldstone report. The Goldstone report is a UN document ratified by 25 of the 47 nations involved in the UN. It was written after a fact-finding mission by Richard Goldstone, the former chief prosecutor of the United Nations International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and for Rwanda.

OPINION | LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Coverage should have included police reactions at similar parties

By SKEET SURRENCY | Nov. 2, 2009

In regards to your article covering Sunday morning's violent incident involving Fest goers and local police, I find it extremely interesting that the only perspective on the incident was from the police.

OPINION | EDITORIALS

UF should think before expanding student union

By The Alligator Editorial Board | Nov. 1, 2009

As planning begins for the renovation and possible expansion of the Reitz Union, UF administrators and the Student Government must take care not to alienate students and faculty who are facing tough times.

OPINION | LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Margaret Sanger unfairly represented

By Desiree Orofino | Nov. 1, 2009

I was alarmed by the one-sided discussion of Planned Parenthood and Margaret Sanger in Thursday's Alligator article. Margaret Sanger was not a eugenist, a racist or an anti-Semite and was in no way affiliated with Nazi ideology. In fact, Sanger's books were of the first to be burned by the Nazis, as they contradicted their anti-family-planning agenda. Additionally, Sanger consistently stated that family planning decisions should be made on an individual basis, not on a social or cultural basis, which of course directly contradicts core eugenics ideology.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Web has become double-edged sword

Nov. 1, 2009

Forty years ago, Leonard Kleinrock sent the first message over what is now known as the Internet. The message - the word "log" - was to be sent from a computer terminal at University of California, Los Angeles to another terminal at the Stanford University Research Institute, but it wasn't a complete success.

OPINION | LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Music deserves some air time

By Peter Turner | Nov. 1, 2009

I would like to respond to letters from Gene Cowell and Meagan Gregory approving of the recent changes to WUFT-FM's radio schedule. Although I'm happy that some new NPR programming has been introduced, such as "Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me" and "This American Life," in other respects the changes have been for the worse for anyone with an appreciation of music. Classical music has been shunted off to HD radio, and jazz has gone away altogether.

OPINION | COLUMNS

College defends WUFT-FM programming change

By Paul Gordon | Nov. 1, 2009

We are grateful to the many north central Florida residents who have supported our expanded news talk and public affairs programming on WUFT-FM.

OPINION | COLUMNS

Mayor explains stance on serving meals

By Pegeen Hanrahan | Oct. 29, 2009

Q: Is it true that the City Commission took action to prohibit St. Francis House from serving more than 130 meals at holidays?

OPINION | EDITORIALS

Darts & Laurels

By The Alligator Editorial Board | Oct. 29, 2009

The week is winding down at the Alligator as we prepare for Halloween, Florida-Georgia, the Fest, sleep... Fortunately, we've been working on our costumes all semester. Thanks to many long nights at the Alligator, accompanied by stimulant-fueled weekend study binges, we're happy to present you with a we-feel-like-zombies-every-day-so-we-don't-need-to-dress-up-for-Halloween edition of...

OPINION | COLUMNS

Michigan ordinance similar to local Charter Amendment 1

Oct. 29, 2009

For an off-year election, Nov. 3 is shaping up to be pretty interesting day at the polls.

OPINION | LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Station switch to NPR a good move

By Meagan Gregory | Oct. 29, 2009

I am sure you are getting a large number of emails on the WUFT programming switch, so I will try to keep mine short. I am writing.

OPINION | LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

New radio format rewarding, enriching

By Gene Cowell | Oct. 29, 2009

May I add my voice in support of WUFT-FM's current programming format, and I hope you will hear from many more who share my view that the new format offers an exciting, rewarding and enriching listening experience. It's impossible to fact-check the claims by those 40 music-lovers with the funds to buy a full-page ad in the Sun.

OPINION | LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

East Gainesville not dependent on AGH

By Kathleen Fette | Oct. 29, 2009

Your editorial column "Closed Doors" was patently ridiculous. According to Mapquest Shands at AGH and Shands at UF are 1.42 miles apart. I hardly think a three-minute travel time will result in "cutting off access to those in need" and your hysterically dire predictions for infant mortality, STDs, homicide deaths, economic decline, crime, etc.

OPINION | EDITORIALS

AGH closure is good business, bad call

By the Editorial Board | Oct. 28, 2009

Shands HealthCare is closing the doors at AGH on Nov. 1, citing persistent financial losses and the weakened economy. In recent years, these annual losses have climbed to more than $12 million.

OPINION | COLUMNS

‘Halloween ain’t what it used to be’

Oct. 28, 2009

Halloween evolves for each of us as we go through life more than perhaps any other holiday. Thanksgiving is always about food, family and football, and how one celebrates Christmas as a child usually has lifelong repercussions on your religious or commercial meaning for the holiday.

OPINION | LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Home Depot to ‘rot in hell’

By Josephine Gebhardt | Oct. 28, 2009

Home Depot to 'rot in hell'

OPINION | COLUMNS

Nation still devoted to consumption

By Lindsey Mills | Oct. 28, 2009

I may or may not be the vegan mentioned in Wednesday's column, "Being eco-friendly isn't always easy." Regardless, I think to view the carbon footprint exercise as a demonstration of the futility of lifestyle choices is way off the mark.

OPINION | LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Editorial misrepresents ordinance

By Jim Austin | Oct. 28, 2009

The Alligator has vented its outrage over the city adhering to its 130-meals limit for St. Francis House; now for some facts.

OPINION | LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Editorial Board misses point

By Jordon Kalilich | Oct. 28, 2009

Should a Home Depot employee be allowed to wear a button reading, "One nation under God"? This is the wrong question to ask. By claiming that Trevor Keezor's button didn't have a "patently offensive phrase" because it's a quote from the Pledge of Allegiance, the Editorial Board misses the point.

OPINION | EDITORIALS

Cold Shoulder: City shouldn’t put a limit on holiday meals

By The Alligator Editorial Board | Oct. 27, 2009

The Gainesville City Commission's choice to enforce a 130-meal limit for St. Francis House this Thanksgiving shows how disconnected it is from many of Gainesville's residents.