Opinions

Parents are always worried about sending their children off to their first day of school. In recent years, however, many parents have worried less about whether their children are learning their ABC's and more about whether they will come home alive.

In Texas, one school has sought to alleviate this fear with a new policy: gun-toting teachers. But perhaps the idea is not as crazy as it sounds. In fact, a recent BBC article assured readers that the trustees and parents had no objections to the new policy.

Since Sen. McCain announced Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate last week, critics have argued that her relative inexperience in national politics and foreign affairs render her unfit for command.

McCain’s opponents have labeled Palin as a lightweight and have insisted that her two terms as mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, and her 20 months as governor do not qualify her to be “a heartbeat away from the presidency.”

Recently, a restaurant that I frequent and love, added ham to their cream of broccoli soup. Why? I haven’t the slightest idea. I’m a vegetarian though, so tough luck for me. I haven’t brought it up to them yet because it’s a small fish to fry in the grand scheme of life in general, but it did get me thinking.

I realize that friends of mine have a hard time figuring out where to eat meals with me because I don’t eat meat. Here’s a thought, we could go somewhere that has something besides burgers, chicken tenders, or chilidogs.

In February of this year, the National Bureau of Economic Research published the first of many studies on the subject of national high school dropout rates. The study cites a variety of disagreements in the methods used to collect this data, such as counting G.E.D. recipients as graduates, and the inability (in some cases) to count those who drop out before their senior year. Using a variety of sources, the NBER has found the American high school dropout rate to be around 20-25 percent.

Last week John McCain introduced America to Debra. The McCain camp rolled out their newest ad featuring Debra Bartoshevich, a cherubic-looking white mother of two from Wisconsin who describes herself as, “a proud Hillary Clinton Democrat.”

But if Debra Bartoshevich is a Democrat, then I’m a coconut cream pie.

Bartoshevich gained notoriety when she was unanimously ejected from the Wisconsin delegation to last week’s Democratic Party convention after telling the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that she planned on voting for John McCain for president.

Books are an important part of our society and have been since their beginning. They are useful for both educational and entertainment purposes, and these two functions can coexist harmoniously.

In our era, books have become a format that is not respected and almost solely used in education.

Reading has been exchanged for watching television and movies, playing video games and spending countless hours staring at a computer screen. Although learning is possible through all of these, it is almost never an intention of each aforementioned action.