The Florida Frontier

September, 2007

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Litigation Derangement Syndrome Returns

Ashley Emans

Since July 10, The University of Florida administration has been in a legal battle with the Christian fraternity Beta Upsilon Chi (BYX), otherwise known as "Brothers Under Christ." After applying to be a Registered Student Organization, the eight boys of BYX were refused student group status on the basis that their membership process is discriminatory... Read more.

The Failure of our Free Press

Lyle Kossis

"Congress shall make no law...abridging the freedom of...the press." And thus begins the Bill of Rights to the United States Constitution. When one analyzes the language of the First Amendment and the peculiarity of its commands, one is lead to ask why the amendment used the declaratory and complete negative "no law" as opposed to a partial negative, such as one that read "no law except those deemed necessary for the public good" or "no law except those with regards to libel and slander." There is no asterisk or footnote in the constitution that is written after the First Amendment, claiming that "no law" allowed for traditional or historically acceptable exceptions to the rule. To be noted, the First Amendment does this because the founding fathers recognized and understood the importance of a free and unfettered press... Read more.

Fighting Force with Force

Matt Mitchell

Barack Obama has fashioned himself as the newcomer in the 2008 presidential election. Gone, he says, are the days of partisan bickering and racial politics. To himself and his followers, Mr. Obama is a veritable political Messiah. The Messiah will bring about a new era in American politics and change the way America works. His platform is loosely held together by his inspirational planks of hope and change. Yet, for all the media attention that his hope and change message has brought about, very little light has been shown on what change we can expect, or what it really means... Read more.

An Inside Look at the White House

Matt Dean

A couple weeks ago, Florida Frontier co-writers and I decided to hold a counter-protest against the usual Iraq War protestors at the Turlington Plaza on the University of Florida campus. Our sign said we supported our troops and we were winning the war. To my dismay, we were outnumbered about 10-1 and were faced with a strong liberal opposition. With spit and obscenities flying, I couldn't help but wonder: Why aren't more Americans supporting America? Read more.

An Inconvenient Conjecture

Bryan Griffin

I was on my way to class, at about 1 in the afternoon in February at the University of Florida and it was cold. I mean, freezing. I had bundled up, but apparently not enough, because halfway to class I began to quicken my pace to end the misery. Just that morning, I had heard about the record snowfall in New York recently, something to the tune of 140 inches of snow over the weekend. Nightly, freeze warnings would roll across my television screen reminding residents of Gainesville to protect plants and crops from possible damages. And then I stop. I look around, and I begin to notice that the "independent" campus newspaper had an irregularly large headline that day. My fellow students were standing around me, in hats, scarves, mittens, jackets and sweaters, and the way they were brandishing the newspapers almost made it seem they were holding signs: the opened newspapers clutched in both fists at about chest height and held outright to read. The headline, surprise surprise, spreading the propaganda and lies of the political left and their ploy to use the environment to get a vote... Read more.