Opinion

"I want to begin with an apology to all of you," began former Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis at a special lecture to Professor Paul Wattenberg's class "Introduction to American Government" on March 1. "If I had beaten Bush I," he continued, "you would never have had a Bush II." Laughter ensued.

With every type of business feeling the pains of our struggling economy, the news industry in particular has faced difficulties making ends meet. While print media is already battling the specter of a slow death, it is the smaller, more local newspapers that are having the hardest time staying alive. Just last week, it was reported that San Francisco might lose its primary local newspaper, the San Francisco Chronicle, if its parent company fails to find a buyer, and Denver's Rocky Mountain News published its last issue on Feb. 27.

Exit stage right, enter stage left. Maybe, just maybe, President Barack Obama reads the New University or at the very least my articles. Just as I was about to write another disappointing review of Obama's hesitance to act boldly, he turns progressive on me.

Ever since he took office, President Barack Obama has been understandably preoccupied with attempting to mitigate the economic recession. With respect to foreign policy, Obama's overused mantra of "Change" actually seemed to mean something concrete; he talked about ending torture, rebuilding America's soft power and speaking to countries with whom America has no diplomatic relations. In examining Obama's foreign policy thus far, especially in the Middle East, it is important to consider whether or not his decisions have meaningfully changed America's course.

A college in rural Missouri is attempting to remove all books from its school. In an effort to cut costs, Northwest Missouri State is providing students with laptops filled with downloadable versions of required textbooks. Refered to as e-books, they contain all the same information as normal books. Some even have interactive features. I greeted this news with a sigh of relief and a scream of joy. As the world moves to a more digital age, I am typically reluctant to investigate new gizmos and widgets. But this time was an exception. An all-digital book system would be superior to a paper one. Despite the difficulty of the change, the new system is more convenient, more eco-friendly and cheaper.

Student movements have been an invaluable mode of social change throughout history. However, it seems that the powerful messages of prior generations have been superseded by cries for attention.

President Barack Obama made his first foreign trip to Canada on Feb. 12. Although the trip wasn't far and may not seem important to the American people, it was well overdue because it is vital for the new administration to pay attention to Canada. America must not only maintain strong foreign relations with our northern neighbor but also work to improve them. The reasons for this are unfortunately often overlooked.

Anteaters for Israel (AFI) invited Khaled Abu Toameh to speak about the Israel-Palestinian conflict at UC Irvine last Wednesday. Toameh is an internationally renowned Muslim Arab-Israeli journalist acclaimed for his moderate stance and his intimate experience with the conflict. He spent seven years writing for a Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) newspaper and now works for the Jerusalem Post.

Since I arrived in Brazil to study abroad, locals have asked me about the education system in the United States and specifically the UC system. As an education reform activist and a tuition abolitionist, talking about this subject is easy. However, it has not been easy to explain the concept of student debt and the reasons our public university system is not truly public.

A corporation – or rather let us call it an incorporation, for I am speaking generally and do not want to provoke those associations of a legal, social and moral character that the former carries with it – is an ingenious device...

Glenn Beck; Bristol Palin; Arkansas; democracy via SMS in Estonia.

I recently made one of the biggest mistakes of my life: I voluntarily chose to go see the movie "He's Just Not That Into You." Sitting through the agonizing two hours and nine minutes of the "chick-flickiest" film I have ever seen, I could feel the testosterone slowly leaking out of my body. Although the movie was mainly about relationships, friendship, love and all that other fluffy garbage, I found one particular scene very interesting and thought-provoking. This scene focused on this idea of how people have become dependent on countless social networks and technology to foster their relationships.