In all my time as a student and observer on campus, I have not seen anything as sketchy as the events of the past several months in the Student Association business.  Meetings that should have happened were cancelled, while others of questionable legality took place that instituted major changes.  Attempts to gather information about what is going on are met with assertions about how the SA is not required to furnish it.  It is no wonder that certain organizations on campus are in open revolt.

As a graduate who has been involved with an organization on campus for four and a half years, I have had to deal with a certain level of campus politics on a regular basis. Certain student government procedures become accepted because they work.  But when they are changed without explanation and replaced by obviously flawed substitutes, it is a sure sign of trouble.

Wow, the power of the press.  I couldn’t believe the response I got from my last article, Democracy Now an Illusion at UWM.  I spent a year and a half as a senator trying to get people to care and to become involved the way students did over that one story.  Apparently, I was going about it all wrong. 

They tell me this started a stir around campus.  Students have taken time out of their days to think about the Student Association.  Call me a dork, idealist or just sick, but I got a little tingle from all that. That’s right something touched me – not a politician or priest – but rather, people who were informed.  People caring and feeling outraged by those that represent them. 

The noble idea behind student government is to allow students to be actively involved in the decisions that govern their experience at UWM.  Law allows students to set and allocate the segregated fee portion of tuition.  These fees in turn are meant to enrich UWM for all students on campus

Your Student Association (student government) is based off of the U.S. system of democracy.  Three branches that work for the common good of those they represent.  Three branches of government that create a constant pattern of checks and balances.  With such noble ideas and such a great basis for a governmental system, what are we lacking at UWM?  What has happened to corrupt our system?  Simply, personal greed has eroded the foundation on which our student government is based.

The television is plastered with them. Every year there is a new one set to air. At what point will these shows stop or are these reality shows already losing their luster?

The first reality television show, Candid Camera, aired in 1948. Candid Camera pulled pranks on unsuspecting victims, usually ordinary people. This show is similar to MTV’s Punked that pulls pranks on celebrities. Reality TV really started to grow in the early 1990’s and throughout the past years has grown enormously.

The unpredictability of what one will see while viewing these shows is what pulled in the audience. But that unpredictability has now failed. What once was exciting to watch a group of singers compete for a contract has now turned into what appears as an extravagant stage show with judges that bicker amongst themselves. The survival techniques of humans on deserted islands have turned into racial tribes fighting for superiority. Why has the focus of these reality shows strayed?

Bar Louie is nestled in downtown Milwaukee on Water Street. The restaurant/bar just opened over a month ago and from a customer’s eye could not get any busier. Bar Louie is a chain restaurant that has over twenty locations in seven states across the United States.

The trendy restaurant and bar dedicates its cuisine to oversized sandwiches but does not limit itself to just that.  There are large sections of pastas, entrees and appetizers. For those bar goers, there is large variety of beers, microbrews, wines, martinis and cocktails.

With the midterm elections about a month away, I am reminded of the 1994 House and Senate elections. At the time of the ‘94 midterms, the Republican Party had gone 40 years without holding a majority in the House or Senate. The 103^rd Congress, which served from 1993 to 1994, had a Democratic Party majority of 258-176 in the House of Representatives and a 57-43 majority in the Senate.

During the fall of 1994, the GOP introduced the “Contract with America”. The contract, which borrowed heavily from the text of President Regan’s 1985 State of the Union address, was written mostly by Texas Representative Dick Armey and publicized and promoted by Georgia Representative Newt Gingrich. Armey and Gingrich’s contract promised floor votes on several pieces of legislation if the GOP were voted into the majority.

The promised legislation in the contract focused on economic issues and congressional reform. In November of 1994, the American electorate voted out of office 34 Democratic incumbents and when the dust had cleared the GOP held a 230-204 majority in the House and a 52-48 majority in the Senate.

Topic one: Shawn Alexander Breaks His Foot, Is the Madden Curse Real?

Nate Smidt: Alright, personally, I don't believe in curses or anything like that, but there is something fishy about it, whether it is injury or poor seasons.  This season, it is Shaun Alexander. He only broke his foot and will only be out two weeks.  Depending on how the rest of the season goes for him (injury and stats), then he can be judged.  If he has a poor season stats-wise though, it may not just be the Madden Curse, but the “Newly-Signed Contract Curse”.

Matt Capristo: Well, I was born a New York Yankees fan so I believe in curses. I still believe in the curse of the Bambino and I believe in the Madden Curse. It is a fact that since they started to put players on the cover of Madden, he has either suffered a serious injury or has had a significant drop in production. Eddie George, in 2001, is the only person to ever avoid the curse.

Though you’ve probably heard the single, “The Mix Tape” by Jack’s Mannequin on the radio, you may not be aware of how proactive (no, not the acne treatment Kelly Clarkson and Lindsay Lohan endorse) the lead singer Andrew McMahon is.  A lymphatic leukemia survivor, McMahon founded the Dear Jack Foundation which has been helping to raise money throughout the month of September, which is Leukemia Awareness Month. 

It turns out Andrew’s sister actually donated her bone marrow for him, saving her brother’s life.  McMahon wrote on the Dear Jack Foundation’s website, “Having fought my own battle with Leukemia I feel an intense personal obligation to use whatever resources are at my disposal to raise both money and awareness for the countless young people who are being diagnosed with similar blood diseases.”