In praise of Kerry and the Democrats

By Andrew Hammond / November 2, 2004

I am so fortunate to get a chance to talk to you about this election and present my thoughts on what is always an intensely personal and collectively powerful decision. It is a right that we Americans are entitled to by law, but one that others all around the world still fight and die for....

2004 election issues of gay Americans

By John Gabriel / November 2, 2004

We all know that the results of the upcoming election will affect our lives for the next four years and beyond. This is especially true for members of the queer community. While gay marriage has been a high profile campaign issue and the Federal Marriage Amendment has received a lot of press attention, there are...

America’s railways and ports are vulnerable

By Joshua Steinman / November 2, 2004

I take the train when I travel home from Chicago. A romantic at heart, I love the slow pace, coupled with the colorful countryside, and the relative freedom a train offers compared to a car or a plane. I also enjoy the ease with which I can travel by train. Chicago’s Union Station is only...

Support our democracy

By Maroon Editorial Staff / November 2, 2004

With all the talk of swing states determining the current presidential election—with almost hourly updates available on the Internet, giving the edge to one candidate and then the next—it’s easy to feel that your vote is not being courted. But even though we do not live in the battlefield state of Florida, and even if...

In France, “tact” is just a four-letter word

By Rebecca Phillips / October 31, 2004

October 28, 2004—PARIS—”The child may say ‘bonjour’ to the lady, even though he thinks that she is mean and ugly.” As we completed aloud example #5 on page 8 of the University of Chicago Paris Program grammar workbook, the class erupted in laughter. “Non,” explained Sylvie, our language and writing teacher/pedagogue/surrogate mother/director of the study...

John Kerry for President

By Maroon Editorial Staff / October 31, 2004

No matter who is elected on Tuesday, the next four years will be incredibly important to both this nation and its youth. While the U.S. will define its international and national policy, possibly for decades to come, its students, especially college-age students, will continue to have what many call the “defining experiences in a young...

The Gaza pullout plan: Another opportunity for the Palestinians

By George Anesi / October 31, 2004

It’s right up there with the U.N. Partition Plan of 1947 and Ehud Barak’s offer at Camp David in 1998—that is, it’s another golden opportunity for the Palestinians to get what they say they’ve always wanted, autonomy and then a state. Of course, it still seems obvious that what the Palestinians really want—or want first,...

Who exactly is John F. Kerry?

By Hollie Russon Gilman / October 31, 2004

I am not professing to truly know the Senator, but I think I do have some ideas. He is a man who was raised with a sense of chivalry, as a Bostonian gentleman. He was taught not to attack until provoked. He was taught a sense of class and obedience. In short, he is the...

Shades of gray in the Jewish world

By Adam Weissmann / October 31, 2004

In her op-ed piece (“Jewish-conspiracy theorist surfaces at Duke,” 10/22/04), Phoebe Maltz boldly and cleverly outlined the major flaws and absurdities of Philip Kurian’s article “The Jews” in a recent edition of Duke University’s Chronicle. Yet Kurian’s article, as well as Maltz’s critique, highlights serious problems of identity and perception within the Jewish community, both...

Stop blaming the big pharmaceuticals

By Laura Hamilton / October 31, 2004

According to the napkin-scribbled calculations the country’s leading health experts have been performing somewhere, America has roughly half the flu vaccines that it needs. But fortunately the experts have sage advice for you: “Take a deep breath. This is not an emergency,” suggested Dr. Julie Gerberding, head of the federal Centers for Disease Control and...

“Thinking Man” for president: Kerry realistically runs in flip-flops

By Tara Kadioglu / October 28, 2004

We’re well into autumn by now, but, in some ways, the right still wants to discuss summer fashion. Bush supporters distributed flip-flop sandals with John Kerry’s name on them to delegates at the Republican convention last month. And remember that old television hit “Flipper?” The Republican National Committee apparently made and distributed an 11-minute clip...

Objectivist speaker dismisses faith, counterd with his own fanaticism

By Ryan McCarl / October 28, 2004

The terrorists of 9/11 represent the “essence” of religion, according to Andrew Bernstein, and “the quest for heaven leads to hell on earth.” On Thursday evening, the Objectivist Club brought in Bernstein, professor of philosophy at Pace University and member of the Ayn Rand Institute, to give a talk entitled “Religion vs. Morality.” Roughly three...