The streak is over! This past Thursday’s edition of
The Marquette Tribune was the first issue of the university newspaper, outside of the Pope John Paul II Monday edition, that did not contain an editorial written in opposition to either Douglas Zabrowski or myself since our articles were first published. It is sad to see this day, but we all knew that it was eventually inevitable. All joking aside, the editorials this time around were honestly quite pathetic with none of them particularly pecking my interest. With that out of the way, I thought I would take the time to quickly respond or post comments on three articles within this past Thursday’s edition of
The Tribune that caught my eye for one reason or another.
The first article I would wish to discuss, entitled
Focus groups help to replace former vendors, does not involve a particular complaint about the subject matter itself – quite on the contrary, I am proud that the administration is finally taking the issue of Campus Town seriously and researching into how they can make it profitable once again not exclusively for the sake of the university but Milwaukee County as well – but rather an annoyance that has developed over the course of the school year and one which has been brought again to the surface by the following paragraph:
“The strip that formerly housed the office of University Apartments and Off Campus Student Services, a bank and Papa John's will be occupied by the Office of the Bursar this month, Peters said, because previous assessments suggested the service the Bursar offers would be best in an area easily accessible to students, he said”
See, this is what annoying to me. Pick a damn spot for the Office of the Bursar and stick with it already. I can remember at beginning of the school year when the Bursar used to be located right next door to the Varsity Theatre, now currently occupied by Career Services. It was then moved to the end of campus within Carpenter Tower. Now they have decided to relocate it once again to the other end of the university campus. Frankly, I thought it was of most convenience for students when it was next door to the theatre, given that it was essentially across the street from the library. And of course this relocation is only temporary and the Bursar will again be moved to yet location, which remains undisclosed at this point in time. But this does leave you questioning where else they can place it once a new business is found to replace the former-Papa John’s location. This is not so much a big deal for me as it is a little annoyance that I feel should be squashed immediately.
The second article from Thursday’s edition of
The Marquette Tribune which had caught my interest, entitled
Legislator wants to give workers day off to vote for president, governor, deals with a particular political subject which I am opposed to, though certainly not as adamantly as with more significant proposals then this. The following article has a lot more to do with common sense and logic rather then the politics themselves. However I am not the least bit surprised that a Democrat was behind its conception within the state of Wisconsin. Rep. Joe Parisi (D-Madison) has proposed making Election Day a state holiday in an effort he believes will solve the problems resulting at the polls. The Wisconsin legislator was quoted in the university newspaper as saying:
"’When you look at the problems that have occurred in Milwaukee, I think you can trace a lot of them to long lines and overworked poll workers,’ he said”
Here is a prime example in which you can distinctly tell the difference between Democrats and Republicans when it comes to the issue of the state’s election difficulties. The Republican on the one hand actually wants to solve the issue by fixating the problem on voter fraud, an evidential conclusion from the lengthy list of registered voters whose residences did not exist, and proposing legislation which would dramatically revamp the state’s terribly loose voter registration laws. The Democrat on the other hand contributes the difficulties to lingering lines and therefore proposes a piece of legislation which would give off the appearance of accomplishing something without actually contributing something which would go about reducing the problem whether it was in the short or the long term. The average worker in America holds down a nine-to-five job, does he/she not? The polls on Election Day open at eight in the morning and close precisely at seven in the evening. Now it seems to me that all you would have to do is vote before heading off to work in the morning or else head immediately to the nearest polling station after work. How difficult or demanding can that be?
“Parisi expressed the opposite opinion, saying more voting problems arise from poor administration at the polls rather than from voter fraud”
Then why is it, might I be so inclined as to ask, that Democrats are quick in jumping on the Republicans for the issue of voter fraud – for example, Ohio and Florida in the past two presidential elections – when they lose an election but as time has been able to take its course, they are able to quickly assemble in opposition to the legislation which would resolve their earlier resent, amazingly in time for the next election campaign to rev up. And did any else bother to notice that such a proposal would seek to cater to a key demographic of the Democratic Party, which would be the union worker? Purely unintentional I am sure but I view this as a rip-off when hardworking individuals such as my father, who works as a pharmacist, have to remain at work on Election Day simply for the fact that they either refuse to belong to a union or do have one in which to join and yet they are still able to find the time to vote. This legislation is not only unfair, it does nothing to reduce the difficulties the state suffers from improper election resulted caused by voter fraud.
And finally, I want to merely touch on the matter of the third and final article, entitled
Speaker urges end to Islamic stereotypes, as it will be an extension of the discussion I had covered earlier this week concerning John Esposito speaking at Marquette University.
“Contrary to popular misconceptions, Islam and democracy can be compatible, Esposito said”
Now here is a point of contention that both Professor Esposito and I can come to an agreement on, albeit a rare one. I believe thoroughly that the recent elections in both Afghanistan and Iraq, with tremendous voter turn out that ought to put our citizens to shame next Election Day, should put a direct halt to the debate over whether Islam and Democracy can coexist. But at the same time I am reluctant to accept that fundamentalist Islamic leaders, those who are truly the ones in charge of both the people and the governmental state, will be quick to lay down their grasp on power which they have held for hundreds of years. As an example of what I am discussing, I refer you to
Frontpage Magazine which published an article detailing particular difficulties which may arise from combining Islam and Democracy in the Middle East region.
“Muslims are ‘guilty until proven innocent in every sphere,’ even when virtually none have been found directly guilty of terrorism, Esposito said”
Seeing as how I am short on time at the current moment, I was unable to perform as through a search as I had wanted, but merely typing in the words ‘Muslims found guilty of terrorism’ into the Google search engine produced the following results – one is from the BBC,
US brothers guilty of aiding Hamas, and the other,
Former CAIR Member Pleads Guilty to Terrorism Charges, is from a site called Israpundit. Furthermore, if anyone is interested in remaining up-to-date on the latest news stories or information concerning Islamic terrorism, please visit
Jihad Watch, a highly reliable website.
“This can best be seen in how the media portrays Muslims, in which allegations against Muslims are viewed as more factual than the same allegations against members of other faiths, he said”
Honestly, do you truly believe that Mr. Esposito? Could it be more likely that following the September 11th attacks members of Islam have been engaging in attacks against Americans and the media has finally awaken to the connection between the two? I invite visitors to this site to check out the Media Research Center and type in the words ‘media and Christians’ and read what pops up. I would think the media’s portrayal of the Christian protestors outside Terri Schiavo’s hospice as lunatics and religious zealots would be evidence enough to prove otherwise, but apparently not.
"Separation of church and state doesn't exist in many of these countries"
Again I will say this, point out to me where within the context of the United States Constitution does it say that there exists a “separation of church and state”. Do not bother because it does not exist. It may sound monotonous but it is significant enough that it needs to be drilled into our heads.
“’Do we really believe in democratization, or does it mean we'll support self-determination as long as it's what we want?’ Esposito asked”
Sure we support the concept of democratization to its fullest extent, but if the entire process fails to benefit the United States in the long run, or even go so far as to cause us further harm, then what is the point? People are going to have to realize that we doing this (spreading democracy throughout the world) in an effort to solidify not only our own security and sovereignty, but that of the rest of the world as well. It may be idealistic to want the United States to do something without asking for anything in return, but realistically that does not make sense. We are spending a large amount of taxpayer dollars and risking numerous lives in order to bring freedom and democracy to the Middle East and unless we can guarantee (the key word in this discussion) something in return, specifically an increase in security and a valued ally, then perhaps it is not worth doing.
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