Who can lay claim to American history?

By Andrew Hammond / October 13, 2006

My girlfriend is smarter than me. So you can imagine why it can sometimes be frustrating to debate her. But this summer as we sat in front of Mount Rushmore, someone made my argument for me. I had insisted on stopping by that great monument to some of our greatest citizens, and beneath the four...

The fallout of North Korea’s nuclear test

By Joe Katz / October 13, 2006

On Monday morning, all of us woke up in a different world. The reverberations of the North Korean nuclear test will go far beyond what can be measured on a seismograph, and the full extent of its effects is still unimaginable. The next few months could see anything from the peaceful opening of the Democratic...

Beautification beyond the begonias

By Samuel Rosenberg / October 13, 2006

One of the most commonly heard complaints about mayoral administrations is that funding and services are too focused on the central business district (CBD). This drains resources from the neighborhoods to the city center. In Chicago, it is a widely held belief that our neighborhoods are similarly suffering such neglect while the CBD absorbs urban...

History doesn’t always repeat itself

By Patrick Burke / October 13, 2006

Apparently, there is a more newsworthy individual at UW-Madison this month than Badger running-back P. J. Hill, who annihilated the Wildcat defense last weekend with a supernatural 249-yard marathon. Although Professor of African Languages and Literature Kevin Barrett may not have any 60-yard touchdown runs in him, the continually provocative member of “Scholars for 9/11...

Iraq war demonstrates limits of U.S. power

By Ryan McCarl / October 9, 2006

We often hear it said that America is the most powerful country in the world, the foremost superpower on the international scene. Supporters and critics alike of American foreign-policy decisions generally agree on this point. Whether America is “the indispensable nation” and a force for human liberty or an arrogant empire with imperialist leanings, there...

Foley’s real folly was staying in the closet

By Matt Zakosek / October 9, 2006

Leave it to a pornographer to make the most relevant point yet about the Mark Foley controversy. At his popular site DudeTube (dudetube.blogspot.com), “Matt”—no last names provided—writes the following about Foley: “I don’t want to get into some big examination of being in the public eye and being gay,” Matt writes. “What I have been...

Don’t believe the historical hype

By Maroon Editorial Staff / October 6, 2006

The Intercollegiate Studies Institute’s (ISI) recent survey results have prompted an onslaught in the media of sensational headlines and aimlessly heated discussions on cable news. The most exciting claim is that colleges in the U.S. have failed their students, that students enter college more aware of American history and civics than they are when they...

Too soon for Obama ’08? Think again.

By Andrew Hammond / October 6, 2006

A common response when someone says that Barack Obama should run for President in 2008 is, “it’s too soon.” I’ve heard this from professors, political operatives, and pundits. To respond, I need to separate the complaint into two components: first, that Obama’s inexperience would damage his chances of winning the presidency; and second, that Obama’s...

Congress: The good, the bad, and the ugly

By Ryan Vass / October 6, 2006

When I was a little boy, I turned to my father at dinner one night and innocently inquired, “Dad, why don’t you run for president?” Now, to me, that first Bush guy seemed like a bit of a joker, or at least incredibly, incredibly boring. And my dad is kind of funny. So I figured...

Why the Democrats won’t retake anything in November

By Barney Keller / October 6, 2006

The Democrats won’t win in November. They won’t retake the House, or the Senate, or a majority of governorships. There are a variety of reasons for this, none of them understood by Democrats, and I’m beginning to think they will never get it.First, take the fact that all polling data indicates that the President is...

Divestment does more than send a message

By Rebecca Shi / October 3, 2006

Never again. Not on our watch. If these words ever held any meaning, they are being tested in the current genocide in Darfur, Sudan. They are being tested at the United Nations. They are being tested on our campus. For the first time in history, genocide has been declared while the massacre is still ongoing....

Why so much financial aid for the wealthy?

By Joe Katz / October 3, 2006

It would be an easily made mistake to dismiss the Commission on the Future of Higher Education’s September 19th report as irrelevant to the U of C. For the most part, the high standards of the U of C and other schools in our peer group are not representative of the “equal parts meritocracy and...