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ALEXIS SWAB
2 My vote is no, there should not be an amendment
prohibiting same-sex marriage. A person cannot con-
[8% trol who they fall in love with, whether it is a woman
BY or a man; it just happens, and that is perfectly fine.
One problem I have with not legalizing same-sex
marriage is that many couples have been together for
many years and are still unable to marry. These cou-
ples would not have any sense of security if some-
thing were to happen to their loved one. They are
_ unable to collect their partner’s life insurance or So-
cial Security if he or she would pass away, simply
because they are not legally married. If one’s partner
is sick or need to be hospitalized for any reason, it
may be that only family is permitted to see them, and
same-sex partners are often barred due to their non-
JALON ALEXANDER
I maintain a libertarian perspective that marriage
should be privatized. I do not think the government
ought to define what marriage is. The government
should function as the arbiter of contracts determin-
ing if both parties consent to the marriage. Only an Z#
individual’s marital status should be known, not the ; 7s 5
sex of the individual to whom they are married
(unless the individual chooses to make it public). =
This would solve for claims of discrimination, as it
would become harder to identify homosexual indi-
viduals.
The issue of whether gay couples can be married
within religious places of worship is irrelevant.
Those rights are determined by the place of worship.
The government cannot define religious statutes or definitions, as that would be a
violation of religious autonomy. I think the discussion is not about marriage in the
sense of its religious legitimacy, but about the recognition of the civil right, specif-
ically civil unions. My advocacy remains that marriage should be privatized and
government should only ensure that contracts are valid and that individuals con-
sented tq the contract of marriage.
ANGELIC SINOVA
MICHELLE SCHMITZ
In this day of electronic bill
pay, email cards, and online
catalogs, do we still need the
post office? The postal service,
born in 1775, holds a position as
one of the oldest institutions in
the United States, and was once
headed by postmaster general
Benjamin Franklin. Despite its
prestigious past, the United
States Postal Service will be in
dire straits if Congress fails to
implement policy changes soon.
If the USPS doesn't make its
$5.5 billion payment this fall, it
may have to shut down com-
pletely by winter.
~The postal system is estimated
to drop from 167 billion pieces
of mail each year to 118 billion
(down 22% from five years
ago). There are some sugges-
tions to save the institution. A
recent New York Times article
referenced those measures pro-
posed by postmaster general
Patrick R Donahoe; these in-
clude "eliminating Saturday
mail delivery, closing up to
3,700 postal locations and lay-
ing off 120,000 workers -- near-
ly one-fifth of the agency's work
force -- despite a no-layoffs
clause in the unions’ con-
tracts" ("Postal Service is Near-
ing Default as Losses Mount").
There is also talk of the post
office becoming several busi-
nesses in one, or sharing a space
in a store such as Wal-Mart or a
bank. Selling other items such
as cell phones might bring up
revenue. Perhaps the USPS
could deliver wine and beer
right to your front door, or sell
you car insurance with your
stamps. How would you feel
about your favorite restaurant's
ads plastered on the side of post-
al trucks? Or, better yet, the lo-
cal trash company's logo on
your stamps?
To make the cuts needed, the
USPS plans to decrease its work
force from 653,000 to 433,000,
while closing 300 of the 500
extant sorting facilities. These
budget cuts should bring the
annual costs down to $55 billion
a year, trimming off a $20 bil-
lion dollar chunk. One still has
to wonder if it will be enough.
Plath Stamps
EMILY COWDRICK
In a world of e-mails and text
messages, “snail mail” is almost
obsolete. In contrast to the im-
mediate transfer of information
that e-mail provides, regular pa-
per post mail has been nick-
named “snail mail” due to the
fact that it takes a few days from
mailing to arrival. Considering
the risk that mail can be lost en
route to destination, the hassle of
mailing by post has taken an
incredible toll on the usage of
the postal service.
The price of postage has
spiked greatly in attempts to
keep the United States Postal
Service afloat. The postal ser-
vice’s chance of survival may be
slimmer than we realize.
If, in fact, the United States
Postal Service is still up and run-
ning come 2012, a new set of
Forever stamps will be issued.
The stamps’ theme is Twentieth-
Century Poets. Among the poets
featured will be Sylvia Plath.
Sylvia Plath is a rather well
known author, perhaps not so
much for her work as for her
suicide at the age of thirty.
Born in the United States,
Plath moved to England to study
at Cambridge. While abroad,
Plath met and married Ted
Hughes, a fellow poet. Plath and
Hughes had two children and an
incredibly tumultuous marriage.
Famous publications under her
true name include The Bell Jar, a
semi-autobiographical novel,
and Ariel, a collection of poems
published posthumously.