It's generally been concluded that felons do not share the same constitutional rights as law-abiding citizens. Tradition holds that a citizen who commits a felony has violated his end of the social contract, voiding the obligation of society to give him, in return, his own constitutional rights.
Some states have always restored these rights after the felon has paid their debt to society. Others, like Maine, can permanently suspend the rights of felons to vote, own firearms, obtain certain occupational licenses, sit on a jury (is this really a right, or an obligation?) or run for public office.
Florida, on the other hand, has a state-run board to determine whether or not a felon deserves to have these rights restored, a concept they have been taking fire for.
To be sure, some felonies are worse than others and a value judgement must be made by society: "Was the crime this person committed an atrocious act against society? Is it worth punishment for life?"
This may not be the case for some nonviolent crimes like drug trafficking, grand theft, cannabis cultivation and fraud, but where do we draw the line? If that line is violence, people like KennethLay and Jeffrey Skilling, who aren't exactly run-of-the-mill thieves, may be getting off too easily.
I agree some felons have paid their debt to society and deserve to renew their societal contract. On the other hand, if we are to make concessions for some felons, a common-sense system outlining the exact criteria for rights resortation must be outlined to avoid the slippery slope.
Friday, April 6, 2007
Thursday, April 5, 2007
Ever want to know something about Ames or ISU?
Rofflehaus.
This goofy name is the location of Ames and ISU's only wiki.
Basically, it's a wikipedia for ISU students. If you ever want to know an odd tidbit about a building, or if you want to hear the juice on one of the prominent faculty members, this is the place to go.
This goofy name is the location of Ames and ISU's only wiki.
Basically, it's a wikipedia for ISU students. If you ever want to know an odd tidbit about a building, or if you want to hear the juice on one of the prominent faculty members, this is the place to go.
Blogger Introduction and Commentary
First of all, let me construe my gratitude for being able to try out this new format for the Daily Opinion section. I hope this section becomes as popular as the ISD website and helps better serve the students in an Opinion-y sort of way. I plan to add a bit of depth to my column as needed and also post some links, information, and commentary relevant to the student body.
As a side note this week: I'm not going to add to the commentary about Abel Bolanos, as I'm sure everyone is experiencing this week in different ways. I'd like to encourage students who are having a hard time to seek some helpful counseling. ISU has a lot of services available for your needs, so don't be afraid to come forward and help yourself.
Bit of BC Commentary
The Daily has recently printed both an article and column about rising prices of oral contraception. The printed information was a bit despairing to the constituency, and there weren't many other options listed to help students be safe. In the interest of responsibility (as I do write about sexual issues a ton)- if you're feeling the drain on your wallet, feel free to check out other options here.
Weekly Column
As always, feel free to leave commentary. If you have an issue with it that you'd like addressed by me or discussed (as opposed to just pointed out in the online edition) please leave a comment on the blog.
As a P.S. to today's column: People, if you want someone to move, ask. It's come to my attention that smokers aren't aware when they're bothering you - and in hindsight I've never been asked to move either. Speak up.
Better commentary to come as I get used to the Blog.
As a side note this week: I'm not going to add to the commentary about Abel Bolanos, as I'm sure everyone is experiencing this week in different ways. I'd like to encourage students who are having a hard time to seek some helpful counseling. ISU has a lot of services available for your needs, so don't be afraid to come forward and help yourself.
Bit of BC Commentary
The Daily has recently printed both an article and column about rising prices of oral contraception. The printed information was a bit despairing to the constituency, and there weren't many other options listed to help students be safe. In the interest of responsibility (as I do write about sexual issues a ton)- if you're feeling the drain on your wallet, feel free to check out other options here.
Weekly Column
As always, feel free to leave commentary. If you have an issue with it that you'd like addressed by me or discussed (as opposed to just pointed out in the online edition) please leave a comment on the blog.
As a P.S. to today's column: People, if you want someone to move, ask. It's come to my attention that smokers aren't aware when they're bothering you - and in hindsight I've never been asked to move either. Speak up.
Better commentary to come as I get used to the Blog.
Alcohol issues surface with Belanos' death
The tragic end to Abel Bolanos' life highlights several problems we must address as students.
Binge drinking
Many of us have this idea that drinking massive amounts of alcohol is fun and socially acceptable. I used to think so, as a freshman and even after I returned from deployment as a much more mature individual. However, over the last year, I've learned binge drinking is the surest way to gamble with your future. Certainly, many college students escape unscathed, but binge drinking can lead to shattered relationships, bad decisions, expensive citations and reduced cognition as the effects of drinking too heavily. Chances are, like me, you've suffered a majority of these effects.
A divided community
Ames residents are constantly complaining about "drunken idiots" keeping them up at night, destroying public and private property and a plethora of other negative consequences. My neighbor, Fern Kupfer, professor of English, once wrote a guest column on the effect of student binge drinking on the rest of the community. She's told me ridiculous stories of students urinating in her lawn, destroying her private property and calling her disgusting names in front of her children.
Certainly Ames residents have a vendetta against us transient types, and it is somewhat stereotypical and unwarranted. Ames residents should also realize that we are the backbone of this community and it would not exist as anything more than a truck stop without us.
However, we have a responsibility to conduct ourselves as responsible, contributing citizens to civilization within Ames. Our reputation will not improve until we realize the destructive behavior of a few affects us all. We have the potential to be America's best and brightest. If we are to renew our reputation as the leaders of the future, we must police up our peers and make it socially unacceptable to act as immature teenagers every Thursday, Friday and Saturday night.
True Friendship
While we must stick together as the ISU student community, it is also imperative we stick together in our own cliques. Friends should be present through all hours of the night, whether alcohol is involved or not. Under the best case scenario, a friend may make a bad decision that results in regret, such as sleeping with a complete stranger without protection. Depending on the other individual involved, that friend could be wrongly charged with sexual assault because the other person changed their mind or doesn't remember what happened. Worst, that friend could stumble in front of the car of a drunk driver, or into Lake Laverne. What we really need are true friends — they need not be best friends, or even close friends. Drinking buddies should be watching out for each other, as they may need the favor returned some day.
Binge drinking is certainly the culprit in each of these cases. Alcohol can be fun, but it turns even the most responsible into people with the maturity and cognition of an elementary student. Students will continue to binge drink, but a "Designated Non-drinker" in each group of friends could help to alleviate problems — not only with drinking and driving — but with keeping their drunk friends under supervision when they cannot do so themselves.
The students who took away Bolanos' keys to ensure he did not drive drunk took a step in the right direction. However, they failed to follow through as true friends and as a result, he was allowed to take himself to his own demise because he lacked the capacity to act in a responsible or coherent manner.
Binge drinking
Many of us have this idea that drinking massive amounts of alcohol is fun and socially acceptable. I used to think so, as a freshman and even after I returned from deployment as a much more mature individual. However, over the last year, I've learned binge drinking is the surest way to gamble with your future. Certainly, many college students escape unscathed, but binge drinking can lead to shattered relationships, bad decisions, expensive citations and reduced cognition as the effects of drinking too heavily. Chances are, like me, you've suffered a majority of these effects.
A divided community
Ames residents are constantly complaining about "drunken idiots" keeping them up at night, destroying public and private property and a plethora of other negative consequences. My neighbor, Fern Kupfer, professor of English, once wrote a guest column on the effect of student binge drinking on the rest of the community. She's told me ridiculous stories of students urinating in her lawn, destroying her private property and calling her disgusting names in front of her children.
Certainly Ames residents have a vendetta against us transient types, and it is somewhat stereotypical and unwarranted. Ames residents should also realize that we are the backbone of this community and it would not exist as anything more than a truck stop without us.
However, we have a responsibility to conduct ourselves as responsible, contributing citizens to civilization within Ames. Our reputation will not improve until we realize the destructive behavior of a few affects us all. We have the potential to be America's best and brightest. If we are to renew our reputation as the leaders of the future, we must police up our peers and make it socially unacceptable to act as immature teenagers every Thursday, Friday and Saturday night.
True Friendship
While we must stick together as the ISU student community, it is also imperative we stick together in our own cliques. Friends should be present through all hours of the night, whether alcohol is involved or not. Under the best case scenario, a friend may make a bad decision that results in regret, such as sleeping with a complete stranger without protection. Depending on the other individual involved, that friend could be wrongly charged with sexual assault because the other person changed their mind or doesn't remember what happened. Worst, that friend could stumble in front of the car of a drunk driver, or into Lake Laverne. What we really need are true friends — they need not be best friends, or even close friends. Drinking buddies should be watching out for each other, as they may need the favor returned some day.
Binge drinking is certainly the culprit in each of these cases. Alcohol can be fun, but it turns even the most responsible into people with the maturity and cognition of an elementary student. Students will continue to binge drink, but a "Designated Non-drinker" in each group of friends could help to alleviate problems — not only with drinking and driving — but with keeping their drunk friends under supervision when they cannot do so themselves.
The students who took away Bolanos' keys to ensure he did not drive drunk took a step in the right direction. However, they failed to follow through as true friends and as a result, he was allowed to take himself to his own demise because he lacked the capacity to act in a responsible or coherent manner.
Tuesday, April 3, 2007
Super TB vs. Individual Rights
A 27 year old has been locked in Phoenix for perhaps the rest of his life. His crime? Having an uncurable highly transmissible form of tuberculosis, and refusing to take basic precautions like wearing a mask in public.
According to the AP (emphasis mine):
"Robert Daniels has been locked up indefinitely, perhaps for the rest of his life, since last July. But he has not been charged with a crime. Instead, he suffers from an extensively drug-resistant strain of tuberculosis, or XDR-TB. It is considered virtually untreatable.
County health authorities obtained a court order to lock him up as a danger to the public because he failed to take precautions to avoid infecting others. Specifically, he said he did not heed doctors’ instructions to wear a mask in public"
This brings up an interesting dilemma, one that I brush on in my column tomorrow. When is it prudent to nullify individual rights in the name of public health? This is one of those cases where the public health department of Arizona has the imperative to prevent its citizens from being exposed to this deadly transmissible disease. This is not obesity or video games, but a deadly disease, and the Mallonesque victim refuses to protect others. What do you think? Is it in the best interest of society to keep him locked up so that we will not be exposed?
According to the AP (emphasis mine):
"Robert Daniels has been locked up indefinitely, perhaps for the rest of his life, since last July. But he has not been charged with a crime. Instead, he suffers from an extensively drug-resistant strain of tuberculosis, or XDR-TB. It is considered virtually untreatable.
County health authorities obtained a court order to lock him up as a danger to the public because he failed to take precautions to avoid infecting others. Specifically, he said he did not heed doctors’ instructions to wear a mask in public"
This brings up an interesting dilemma, one that I brush on in my column tomorrow. When is it prudent to nullify individual rights in the name of public health? This is one of those cases where the public health department of Arizona has the imperative to prevent its citizens from being exposed to this deadly transmissible disease. This is not obesity or video games, but a deadly disease, and the Mallonesque victim refuses to protect others. What do you think? Is it in the best interest of society to keep him locked up so that we will not be exposed?
Sunday, April 1, 2007
Lecture by Dr. Stanley Prusiner M.D
On Monday April 2, Dr. Stanley Prusiner will be speaking in 1210 LeBaron Hall at 4:10 PM. Dr. Prusiner won the Nobel Prize in medicine in 1997 for the discovery and characterization of prions. His discovery revolutionized current thought in infectious disease, when he discovered that an infectious self-replicating protein caused fatal spongiform encephalopathys such as CJD, Mad Cow disease, scrapie, and Kuru. Before this groundbreaking discovery, researchers assumed that pathogens required nucleic acid (DNA and RNA) to reproduce. Not since Louis Pasteur established the germ theory of disease has such a groundbreaking discovery in infectious disease been made. I would encourage anyone with a scientific interest to attend, it is a unique opportunity that you don't want to miss.
Blogger Introduction
I'd like to thank the editors for bringing me on as one of the authors for the opinion blog. One of the restrictions to writing opinion is that you must get your thesis, along with supporting evidence across in 600 words. The blog format will allow us as writers to provide readers with additional information, research, and rebuttals to feedback to their columns. I also plan on posting various stories, links, and bits that may be of interest to opinion readers. Please feel free to post comments about what you would like to see discussed or posted and I will do my best to address them.
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