As a Westerner watching the downtrodden people of the Middle East rise up against their oppressors, it is hard not to feel both inspired and optimistic for the future. This euphoria sometimes makes it easy to forget that the damage done by these regimes survives long after their demise. Decades of experience stuffing ballot boxes and torturing dissidents doesn’t...
The results of the primaries in South Carolina and Florida brought about what will be the decisive fight this primary season. Either Mitt Romney or Newt Gingrich will end up at the top of the Republican Party ticket to take on incumbent President Barack Obama in this fall’s general elections. That is not in any way to brush aside...
Last week, a study conducted at UCLA revealed that more students than ever are attending college for the express purpose of attaining a job after they graduate. When asked to list their primary reason for enrolling at the university, 85.9 percent of the student body answered that they were chiefly interested in using college as a foundation for their...
Courtesy of radiosurvivor.com
The Supreme Court recently heard arguments that challenged the power of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to sanction and fine broadcast networks whenever there is indecent exposure or a curse word spoken on the airwaves. Broadcast networks argue that it is against the First Amendment for the FCC to wield this power over them.
However, to make the...
We need jobs, but at what cost? Today politicians are willing to do whatever it takes to get into office or stay there, but desperate times do not call for irrational or hasty decisions. We need leaders willing to make unpopular decisions in the face of adversity and at the risk of scuttling their own political aspirations.
Our impetuous political...
This year, Stephen Colbert, popular comedian and host of Comedy Central’s “The Colbert Report,” decided to throw his hat in the ring for the 2012 GOP primary. But Colbert, a shrewd satirist, had no intention of winning the race; he sought, instead, to expose the injustice inherent in an election governed by Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, a...
A few weeks ago the Obama administration announced that they had rejected a previous agreement to begin work on the Keystone Pipeline project. The project was to run from Northeast Canada to Texas and through a number of refineries along the way. Because of threats from the powerful environmentalist lobby as well as tree huggers at the Sierra Club...
An eye-catching editorial in a recent issue of PLUS Model Magazine has started quite the buzz. It features implied nude photos of plus-size model Katya Zharkova with captions that reflect on the unrealistic beauty standards currently set by the modeling industry. While the intention of promoting body diversity in models is a good one, misleading statistics and questionable claims...
To begin, the Fix UC proposal isn't trivial in the least. Eventually levying 5 percent of graduates' income for two decades of employment—this idea would fundamentally change what higher education represents to students of the UC and Californians alike. On paper, the proposal, if implemented, would effectively reduce state contributions to the UC system in favor of funding from...
UC President Mark G. Yudof has directed all 10 UC Chancellors to form committees for the purpose of making the UCs smoke-free campuses within the next 24 months. His directive is aimed at removing all sales and advertising of tobacco products from every UC campus, including parking lots, outdoor parks, recreational areas and private residential space.
Except in the minds...