There are people today who question the validity of teaching and reciting the Pledge of Allegiance in schools. Opponents claim that students are merely reciting something that they do not understand, and so should be discontinued. There are people who claim that it is a violation of their First Amendment rights. And others simply see no reason for it in the first place.

Since its inception, the Pledge of Allegiance has met some kind of criticism, from almost every possible angle, and still come out on top.

>> Full Story

I am well aware that every now and then, I come off as extremely preachy, and probably pushy. Lo siento.

It’s a byproduct of having too many opinions and not having enough time/energy to spout them all, so I’m afraid that I have used the campus of University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee to vent my frustrations with society, and for that I deeply, sincerely and from the bottom of my soul apologize.

>> Full Story

A long-lasting relic of pre-Civil War mentality remains within our presidential electoral process: the Electoral College.

Long ago, when worry over large states dominating the influence of politics over the smaller states was prevalent, the founding fathers created a compromise – the national election for president would allow states to select electors to choose the president. The number of electors per state would be dependent upon a state’s population in proportion to the rest of the nation. Thus, the apportionment used in determining the number of congressional representatives for a given state was used in determining the number of electors that state would receive.

>> Full Story

Since its inception, the Internet has done nothing short of astounding us. Within the grasp of our fingertips comes a massive flux of information that only a few people decades before could have dreamed about. The “marketplace of ideas” has shown us that even user-based technology like Wikipedia can create reliable blocks of information, easily accessible for the common user.

The Internet is a great tool for politics as well, for candidates and the electorate alike.

>> Full Story

I am writing in response to a Letter to the Editor printed in the January 28th issue by AJ Piwarun regarding the counter recruitment action organized by the Progressive Students of Milwaukee at the Klotsche center. This letter is littered with inaccuracies, slander and baseless accusations; I am writing you to clear up these inaccuracies and expose the baseless slander that Mr. Piwarun has spewed, as well as to present what actually happened that day.

Mr. Piwarun stated that the protesters were “holding signs that were intentionally designed to decrease morale for military reservists on campus.” This is untrue; the protesters merely aimed to present a side not often mentioned by recruiters. One sign referred to a Department of Defense study which found that 30 percent of female veterans reported rape or attempted rape during active duty. Of that group, 37 percent said they had raped more than once; 14 percent reported having been gang raped. Perhaps even more tellingly, a small study financed by the V.A. following the Gulf War suggests that rates of both sexual harassment and assault rise during wartime.

>> Full Story