H 77°, L 55° | Tomorrow: 
H 85°, L 67°The end of winter means the start of disc golf season. So, dutifully, my friends and I headed to Token Creek Park last weekend to play 27 holes. It was the start of the season, and the course was busy. While waiting to tee off on hole seven, I managed… Read more »
Opinion
Recently by Nathaniel Olson
Surveillance tech worth the wait
Mass intoxication, chaos enable crime
You can measure a paper as well by the quality of its readers as that of its writers. By that measure, it should come as no surprise that The Badger Herald enjoys its fair share of intelligent critics. Here are some of my picks for the most nuanced and thoughtful… Read more »
Explosions provide lessons in solidarity, tolerance
Runners often say that running is its own reward. After a long day of thinking, reading or arguing with peers, it’s refreshing to lace up your shoes and march to your own drummer. Your body, your music, your pace. Running releases daily stress, gives you a sense of control and… Read more »
Military tech spending pays off in full
Ever wanted to play with lasers? Join the Navy and you might get the chance. Earlier this week, the U.S. Navy released a video of its new toy, a high-energy laser designed to destroy patrol boats, surveillance drones or anything else vulnerable to large concentrated bursts of energy. According to… Read more »
Madison reaffirms same-day registration, democracy wins
Welcome back to Madison, ladies and gentleman, the city where politics never sleeps. Hopefully you spent your spring break preparing for another round of politics, because the city held a slew of local elections on Tuesday to celebrate your return. Which elections you ask? Well, a lot of them actually.… Read more »
Soda side-effects not all that sweet
If there was one person who understood the value of Coca-Cola, it was Andy Warhol. “What’s great about this country,” Warhol said, “is that … the richest consumers buy essentially the same things as the poorest… the president drinks Coca-Cola, Liz Taylor drinks Coca-Cola… you can drink Coca-Cola, too… no amount… Read more »
Planned Parenthood budget cuts will hurt Wisconsin
Let’s talk about sex. About two weeks ago, Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin announced it would be closing four of its health centers in the state. This amounts to a little more than 10 percent of Planned Parenthood infrastructure here in Wisconsin. Planned Parenthood cited state budget cuts as the primary reason… Read more »
Student loans unsustainable
Another day, another debt crisis. Last Saturday, The New York Times published an article about the dangers of student loan debt from graduate school. Which graduate programs you ask? Surely law school, where reports of six-figure debts, unemployment or underemployment are commonplace. Perhaps a special on for-profit schools, institutions where approximately 86… Read more »
UW politicos spew platitudes on Iran
As I read the piece titled “Bipartisan pressure key to halting Iranian nuclear program,” by Chris Hoffman and Jeff Snow in The Badger Herald on Tuesday, I was struck not only by the complete lack of specifics but also by its neo-colonial mentality concerning the United States’ role on this… Read more »
Rubio’s response epitomizes washed-up GOP ideologies
The most prescient lesson Republicans took away from the 2012 presidential election was the need to pay attention to demographics. As Americans are becoming more racially, economically and socially divided than at any point in our country’s history, the Republican Party’s narrow appeals to the descendants of WASP’s and Rockefeller’s need… Read more »
Attacking Hegel over Iraq surge, McCain shows militarist ideology
I have an awkward history with Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. When he was trounced by former President George W. Bush in the 2000 Republican Primary, he seemed interesting to me, like a gentile Ariel Sharon. When he blasted the Bush administration for torture, he seemed like a humanist. When he nominated… Read more »
Clinton demonstrates poise, resolve in Libya testimony
Committee hearings are political drama par excellence. Witnesses speak under oath, cameras are on full display and questions have been meticulously prepared by those conducting the investigation to be both barbed and combative. Senators stare down at those testifying from behind their nametags, waiting for the opportunity to ask a… Read more »
Endowments stand on shaky ethical ground
Don’t ever let anyone trick you into thinking universities aren’t businesses. They produce quality products for which there is a huge demand: skilled workers. They put money down on infrastructure and football teams in an effort to attract the best investments they can: the brightest and most driven learners. Then… Read more »
Complaints about housing development in Camp Randall neighborhood lack foundation
In the northern United States, we like to say that there are two seasons of the year: winter and construction. As anyone who has been woken up by the sound of a jackhammer on pavement at 9:00 a.m. can tell you, construction projects around these parts are never ending. Whether… Read more »
American public benefits from accessible birth control
Companies, research centers and advertisers are always putting out new questionnaires to gauge American public opinion on issues that matter to them. In an economy that centers on providing people with the exact goods and services they desire — sometimes before they even know they desire them — information about… Read more »
No need to worry about Walker presidential bid
Elections in America are like that significant other you always seem to keep coming back to. We can’t live with them, but we can’t survive without them, either. Yes, to the chagrin of many, 2016 presidential election speculation is already underway. Wisconsin, home to Gov. Scott Walker — one of… Read more »
Without open discussion, Israel-Palestine dialogue goes nowhere
As I was glancing through Monday’s headlines, I thought for certain that Tara Golshan’s front page article, which chronicled a Friday rally organized by Students for Justice in Palestine to protest the Israeli bombardment of Gaza and the subsequent counter-rally in support of Israel attended by members of the Madison-Israel Public… Read more »
Mandatory vaccinations improve health outcomes
It’s an uncomfortable part of medicine that doctors make mistakes. My dad returned home from a toe surgery two years ago, and when he came out from underneath the effects of the sedatives, he discovered three neat, tidy stiches still intricately embedded in his skin. It was hardly a life-threatening… Read more »
Energy money could be much better spent
Well, it’s finally November here in Wisconsin and if my years of living in the North have taught me anything, it may be this: It will get very, very cold soon. Definitely “put an extra blanket on the couch” cold, and not something to be taken lightly. Now, there’s an… Read more »
Romney platform inconsistent, offensive
Although I’m voting for President Barack Obama for president this fall, I’m mainly voting against Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney. I’m doing this not because I believe Romney is a bad person or poor business leader, but rather because I believe the values and perspective he brings to the job… Read more »
NRA attack ads off target on guns
I’ve got a question for everyone reading this: How many of your problems in the last four years were you able to solve only because of your ready access to an army-issue M-16 assault rifle? If your answer was greater than or equal to one, don’t fret — the federal government’s… Read more »
Ethnic studies inept against Islamophobia
On Aug. 5, something terrible happened in the state of Wisconsin. In an attack described as “a domestic terrorist-type incident,” a white supremacist named Wade Michael Page burst into a Sikh temple in Milwaukee suburb Oak Creek and opened fire with a 9 mm semi-automatic handgun. The attack ultimately killed five… Read more »
Technology less visible but more valuable
Education is a constantly changing field. Regardless of what the US News and World Report rankings would have you believe, the places where you can get a quality education are constantly shifting as academic institutions adapt to new technologies, trends and pressures. This phenomenon is not just true of the… Read more »
Tammy more nuanced in healthcare
Although it was written almost a decade ago, The West Wing is still relevant today. Arguing about Social Security with one of his advisors, fictional President Josiah Bartlet cautions against participating in the debate. “Social Security is the third rail of American politics,” he warns, “Touch it, and you die.”… Read more »
Debates force candidates to clarify policy positions
I can’t seem to turn on my television or load a YouTube video these days without being saturated with attack advertising claiming that Barack Obama hates my future children or that Mitt Romney wants to give my money away to rich people. Considering that both campaigns still have at… Read more »
Percentage comments shed light on Romney’s beliefs
It’s good that the presidential race will be over in a month and a half, because the issues that have been raised lately sound like bad jokes. Did you hear the one about Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s sweeping generalizations and our cultural affinity for percentage values? No, no, not… Read more »
Politicians confused on Nob Hill urban development
I wouldn’t want to try to start following politics from scratch these days because they just don’t make any sense. Last week city officials, including Mayor Paul Soglin, stated their opposition to a proposed $30 million redevelopment for the complex of Nob Hill, an apartment compound on Madison’s south side… Read more »
Obama, Romney lack empathy for citizens
Elections are all about differences. They are an occasion for our two major political parties to explain why their strategies and values are diametrically opposed to those of their opponents and to clarify what they stand for in stark, hard-nosed terms. But as this presidential election continues down the stretch,… Read more »
Armstrong’s doping case raises ethical sports questions
For perhaps the first time in his life, Lance Armstrong has stopped fighting. After nearly a decade at the pinnacle of competitive bicycle racing, the seven-time Tour de France champion and Livestrong founder called it quits in his legal battle against the United States Anti-Doping Agency, declining to rebut their… Read more »
Forces struggle in Afghanistan
As spring rolls around and we in Madison start to venture outside for more fun in the sun, it’s important to remember that warm weather is hardly ubiquitous in its good-hearted nature. In fact, halfway across the world in Afghanistan, the spring brings violence and conflict as the local guerilla… Read more »
America’s decline merely empty doomsday claims
This Thursday, Robert Lieber, one of America’s leading scholars on the subject of American leadership and its position in the international arena, will deliver a lecture that echoes the message of his newest book, “Power and Willpower in the American Future: Why America is Not Destined to Decline” at the… Read more »
Indiana Gov. Daniel’s rebuttal outshines Obama’s
If your viewing of this year’s State of the Union address was anything like mine, it involved good friends, adult beverages and a playful willingness to poke fun at John Kerry’s ghastly hockey bruises. Unfortunately, if you turned off your TV after Obama’s departing “God Bless the USA” to catch… Read more »
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