Recently by Katie Ward

According to a story by CBSnews.com, Alton Logan was arrested and charged for the murder of a late night McDonald's security guard in 1982. CBSnews.com says Logan couldn't believe the accusations and felt they were all "crazy" for arresting him. Logan, his mom and brother all testified that he was at home asleep the night of the murder but the jury found him guilty anyways of first degree murder.

Two attorneys, Dale Coventry and Jamie Kunz, say they knew about Logan's innocents the whole time. The two men were defending Andrew Wilson for the murder of two police officers at the time of Logan's case. Wilson admitted to the attorneys that he was the one who had killed the security guard at McDonalds which Logan was currently being tried for. Coventry and Kunz felt they could not share this new knowledge with anyone because of the client confidentiality agreement between them and Wilson. Logan was charged with murder and sentenced to life in prison. He spent 26 years in prison before the two lawyers finally spoke to authorities of his innocence.

To me, this just shows that something needs to be changed in the education system for law students. Something should be done so that lawyers can feel its ok to speak up for the innocent in such extreme cases as this one. It makes me rethink parts of the client confidentiality law. Indeed, suspects for a crime should be able to argue their side justly, in front of a jury of their peers and with the assistance of a lawyer. However, does that mean helping self-proclaimed killers lie under oath or keeping silent when innocent men are charged with their client's crime?

Waterboarding, as you all probably know, is an interrogation method used by the United States government on terrorist in an attempt to get them to talk. What they do is place a cloth over the face of terrorist suspects and pour water over their faces, which simulate drowning.

Weather this interrogation method is torture or not has been a hot topic for some time. I myself have always thought that the interrogation method is not torture. To me, it's not like we're pulling suspects fingernails off; we're simply scarring them. An article on foxnews.com has brought a lot of important points to my attention, for either side, which I had not thought of before.

First of all the Army and CIA banned the use of Waterboarding in 2006. The technique can currently be used only with the permission of the attorney general and president. Bush wants to keep the option open to use Waterboarding in extreme circumstances.

"I cannot sign into law a bill that would prevent me, and future presidents, from authorizing the CIA to conduct a separate, lawful intelligence program, and from taking all lawful actions necessary to protect Americans from attack," Bush said, according to foxnews.com.

Something brought up by foxnews.com that I had not considered, however, is the idea that keeping waterboarding an option, for the United States, could be seen as torture by other countries; thus put Americans at greater risk of also being tortured if they are captured abroad.

It seems to me like the program in place is an acceptable one, but I hadn't really thought about what we look like to other countries. Is it worth our reputation to keep waterboarding an option? And is it actually more dangerous to Americans to keep the waterboarding policy? Could we be at a greater terrorist threat because of poor relations and reputation with the rest of the world?

My boyfriend, Tyler, and I submitted our applications for the Peace Corps weeks before the early admission deadline and yet we found out that we would not leave until April, 2009!

The Peace Corps has always been associated with young people who are either running away from their problems or searching for meaning in their lives. I have talked to many friends who have said they would consider going if a tragic event occurred, such as the death of a loved one. They would use the Peace Corps experience to get away from their problems or to "find" themselves.

Family Guy, for example, had an episode where Chris was unhappy with his home life and so spontaneously joined the Peace Corps. In the cartoon he flew to Africa the very same day he signed up. The truth is, however, the Peace Corps is not a spontaneous decision. In reality, joining the Peace Corps is a very long slow process. To get accepted and depart, it takes anywhere from six months to a year or more. Unfortunately for us, it is going to be a year or more.

We are highly disappointed with the outcome of our application. Not only is a year a very long time to idly wait for our departure, but on top of that our preferences of what we would like to do and where we would like to go are not at all reflect in our nomination.

There are eight regions of the world that volunteers can be assigned. On the application and in the face to face interview we had the opportunity to rank the different regions in the order of our preference. Yet we were assigned our least favorite choice, Eastern Europe.

In addition Tyler and I stated we were business and marketing majors and thus wanted to do business related work but were assigned to youth development. And finally Tyler made it clear that his only concern with going was with issues of safety. He wanted to be in an environment where he did not have to worry about me being on my own. Our job is not only youth development but youth development among 18 to 21 year olds dealing with issues of prostitution, gangs and drug use.

Needless to say we felt less than safe with this offer. We declined the nomination. I want to request another nomination and hope we get luckier with the next time around, but Tyler sees it as a sign that maybe we shouldn't be going. I feel you only live once and this is something that I really want to do in my life. So I want to at least keep that door open as a possibility.

What do you guys think? Should we give up the idea all together or does it not hurt anything to put in another request and see what they nominate us for next?

The iPhone is unsurpassed in its media functions (surfing the Web, watching videos and listening to music) due to its sleek design; which includes a large viewing screen and devoid of an ugly key board. This design works great for most individuals but isn't great for the average business person who needs the full keyboard for composing quick emails and other messages, says Forbs reporter Brian Caulfield.

Caulfield says Apple is attempting to better appeal to the corporate world with new software. The software will allow businesses to, "pour calendar information and e-mail directly into iPhones," via Microsoft Exchange. Businesses that use other email servers, however, will not be able to utilize these features.

The new software is not going to be enough to win over Corporate America, however, says Caulfield. The iPhone suffers from limitations in design, in software options, cost, and limited carriers.

The iPhone runs 400 dollars for eight gigs and 500 dollars for 16 gigs. This can be pricy for companies when purchase numerous devices. Additionally the only carrier for the I-phone is AT&T. For these reasons Caulfield says the Black Berry devices beat the I-phone in the corporate world.

As a student, I too feel the black berry is better. For me, I have to have the actual keyboard to be able to text and email efficiently. Also I like the fact that my emails come to my phone at the same time they are sent to my computer. The I-phone pulls emails from an account every 15 or 30 minutes. The calendar on the blackberry is better too, I think. What do you think works best for the corporate world and what works best for students?

I know it seems a little premature for us to be talking about protecting our careers. Particularly since most of us haven't even gotten our first real job. But the idea caught my attention after watching an ABC news broadcast on the topic. How can we obtain our dream job and how can we insure our future with the company?

According to ABC obtaining the job of our dreams is still a situation of who you know rather than what you know. The good thing about our generation is that we have online networks that enable us to connect with people from all over the world. ABC recommends becoming a part of facebook.com or linked.com. Here, businesses all over the country actively recruit new hires. Anyone with a valid email address can make a profile, join a group and make connections.

Once you have the dream job there are a few things, according to ABC, you should do to ensure job security. First, don't be modest. They said you should voice your accomplishments and let people know the wonderful asset that you are to them. Also don't be a "paycheck player". This means you should be passionate about your job. If the only reason you show up to work is so that you can get a paycheck on Friday, maybe you should consider a career change. However, they also said you should recognize that no job is perfect. Whatever you do in life there will be aspects of the job that you don't fully enjoy. Lastly, no job is safe; so be a competitive worker and put in the extra time and care in the beginning to let your company know you're worth it.

Last November, 13 year old Megan Meier committed suicide because of cruel harassment under a fake my-space page. Her harasser was the mother of one of her former friends. After an argument between the girls the 47 year old mother took it upon herself to create a my-space profile under the name Josh Evans. She befriended Megan online in the attempt to later hurt her emotionally. The young teenager was found hung in her closet the next day and headlines of her death were everywhere.

Recently a new victim of cyber bulling, a 16 year old boy whose name has not been disclosed, has attempted suicide. He was rushed to the emergency room after taking 60 painkillers. Police said the incident was not a cry for help but a genuine attempt on his life. The harasser in this case was a former friend pulling a "practical joke" on his buddy. The bully created a fake profile of a boy named Callum on the internet site Bebo. The bully then lured his former friend into a romantic relationship with the character. In the event explicit sexual content was exchanged online. This content was shared with the boys' friends and even teachers. The sophisticated prank went on for months and when the victim finally found out the truth he attempted to take his own life.

This story particularly hits home for me because I know someone who has been bullied in this same manner. I was friends with a group of guys I met in the dorms my freshman year. One of the guys was very socially awkward and was always kind of picked on by the other guys. One night a group of them were over at a girl friends house and singed onto her AIM account and pretended to be her. They then confronted the ‘socially awkward' friend and lured him into cyber sex. They tried to get him to say really awkward things. For six months after this they would repeat lines from the conversation in front of him, got him to admit that he had cyber sex with the girl and then announced that it was all a practical joke in front of the girl and a room full of other friends.

The sad thing is that these guys thought the whole ordeal was so funny. What if this friend of ours committed suicide? What would those boys do then? How would they ever forgive themselves? I too have said things I shouldn't in blogs or through AIM. This kind of thing is a wake up call to our generation. We never know what kind of problems people have. Practical jokes like this should not happen. Also we should never vent about the people we love online. Friends, Co-workers, family… we should keep our negative feelings or daily frustrations about them in our private journals, not on the web for all to see!

Most people think "sacrifice" when they hear the words Peace Corps. However, the typical volunteer will tell you they received much more in return than what they gave. In books like "A Life Inspired" and "The Great Adventure" past volunteers write about their life altering experiences in the Peace Crops.

In the book "A Life Inspired", author Karen Schaefer wrote about her experience in Tanzania, starting the country's very first credit union. The business raised enough money to build a new preschool for the village, which they lovingly named "Karen Kindergarten".

The thing I really liked about Schafer's writing was that she gave herself absolutely no credit for the achievement. She comically writes about her experience in the "Mzumbe Women Worker's Club", in which the club's sole purpose was to collect dues. Every week the women would pay a fixed amount into the pot. Then at the end of the month the women took turns taking the money home with them.

This struck Schafer as peculiar. She tried to explain to the women that they were not getting any more money by doing this; that they could simply save the same amount of money as they gave in dues. The women clarified, however, that they were incapable of saving. Men or children would find their money and use it. This way about once a year each woman could buy something nice like dishes for their home.

When it was Schafer's turn to take the money she felt guilty, even though she would be receiving only what she had given in the first place. Instead of taking the money she started a savings account for the women so that they could use the funds for emergencies. The women loved the idea and decided to charge each other a small amount of interest. The women dutifully paid back each loan in full and the account steadily grew.

To know that somewhere across the globe is a community that was so touched by your presence that they named a school after you is pretty impressive. Besides gaining life experiences like this one, other benefits are more tangible. words Business Week voted Peace Corps 23rd of all places to launch a career. Also Universities around the country are actively seeking out students who have completed the program. Some universities, such as Illinois State, give 100% tuition waivers for grad school along with substantial amounts of money for living expenses.

The Peace Corps commitment is two years plus a three month training period in country. My boyfriend and I have decided to get married and join together this October. If anyone is thinking that the experience would set them back in their career or be too much time to give, remember, you will get back ten times what you give.

Peace Corps Campus Representative: Heather Sutter
Berge Union, Room 110
(785) 864-7679
peacecorps@ku.edu