Opinion

Obama set the tone for his new administration with a win-win affront on the First Amendment. The sheepish Republicans in Congress nearly bought into his attempt to marginalize Rush Limbaugh, but even though they didn't (and that's still in question), Obama has rallied the good will of his robotic constituents and thus come away unscathed.

Your take on labor justice is likely all about where you started from. My perspective starts with the old slogan, "An injury to one is an injury to all." There is probably no need to explain that expression of solidarity, but the question of unity and sharing is about with whom you practice it and how generous you want to be.

Recession? Turndown? Complete collapse? What should we call the current state of our economy? If it's not a depression, it sure is depressing. Chalmers Johnson, founder of the Japan Policy Research Institute and a former CIA analyst, has been saying for years that the United States has little to no national industry. The only thing that the U.S. currently has to offer the world, he claims, is war and the machines to make it. By that rubric, our current economic depression might not be as bad as we think. Since the bottom dropped out of the U.S. economy in October, every branch of the U.S. armed services has reported windfall recruitment surges. The economy is getting so bad, it seems, that the hells of Iraq and Afghanistan seem better than the purgatory of unemployment. It is boom times indeed for the wagers of war.

The debate on abortion can never yield a winner. Giving people the right to have an abortion never feels like a victory since it allows for the snuffing out of potential lives. Taking away the right to abortion is even less appealing because we attack rights pertaining to reproduction, a gift bestowed by evolution. Taking away the right to abortion also forces children into already overcrowded families and into the arms of parents who may do considerably more harm than good. Our new president is taking the best possible steps in terms of both his policies and the manner in which he is treating the issue.

Broke bankers; "refugee run" at Davos; black the new black, survey says; Blagojevich grasps at straws.

Illinois impeaches Blago; Neo-Nazis clean up highway in Kansas; Navy trains Flipper to hunt scuba-diving terrorists; all House Republicans vote against stimulus package (which passes anyways).

Almuni Warns that UC Board of Regents Proposal Harms Us All; Green That's Too Extreme: Failing to Understand Your Audience; Relationship Educator Finds Divorce Article Touching

Interrogations, temporary detainment or warm welcomes. Sometimes you can decide your form of reception, though it often comes down to repressing one identity in favor of another. The selective use of a passport from multiple choices, for those able to obtain more than one, may be a matter of self-identification, depending on the circumstance and the location. For many living in the era of transnational terrorism, the process of traveling has become as much a matter of security as racial profiling. In some places, they are one and the same.

Fox News scores douchebag of the week; United States to begin pursuing foreign policy involving actual diplomacy?

Boxer tries to cheat; internet entrepreneur writes bull castration memoir; internets fraudster gets off, 'cause of "the insanity"; UCSB archeology student discovers pygmy mammoth tusk.

We all get those pesky e-mails at the end of the quarter that remind us to fill out five different faculty evaluations for our professors and teaching assistants. And frankly, a lot of us don't. As a result, a great flurry of e-mails collect in our inbox, many rife with exclamation points reading, "Window Closing!" However, with a couple clicks of the delete button, we continue on our way with final papers and exams. For a moment, imagine that your professors anxiously await your feedback. They're not just pleasantly interested; they are twiddling their thumbs in excited anticipation to read what you write about them. Why, you might ask? Perhaps they are motivated by a personal desire to improve their teaching skills. Now, add the additional motivation of a $10,000 bonus...

Back-stabbing; conniving; manipulative; bitch: We all know the stereotypes of strong and successful women in the workplace. However, what if these so-called "ill-founded" images weren't really that off-point? As young girls in Girl Scouts and then as members of sororities in college, women are taught the importance of sisterhood, solidarity and friendship. Yet, many women in the workplace have been known to put aside these vital lessons in hopes of a pay raise or promotion. It is unfortunate that in the workplace, many women are known to sabotage rather than help fellow female co-workers get ahead.