Opinion

Dmitry Medvedev; Ralph Nader; John Kerry.

UCI Registrar Office raises fee for verification request; Craigslist moves to curb ads for sex services; Sudanese government censors newspapers; NYC mayor Bloomberg proposes six-cent plastic bag tax.

The clock strikes midnight, your forehead sweats and you slurp the last few drops of your energy drink. In eight hours your paper is due. You would have done it earlier, but there were those midterms, that party or maybe you just forgot. There's a business to help get you out of this situation.

"Hope" and "Change" have been the rallying cries of this election campaign. Now that the votes have been counted and the "Candidate for Change" Barack Obama is our president-elect, how much hope should we have that change is on its way?

Just this October, at a HIV/AIDS conference, South Africa's new Health Minister Barbara Hogan stated, "HIV causes AIDS." To an outsider, those words are unremarkable. They state the obvious. Of course HIV causes AIDS. The link between the virus and the syndrome has been a fact since 1983. Yet, these three words represent nothing short of a revolution. It has taken countless studies, relentless pressure from activists, doctors, scientists and foreign governments and finally the outbreak of political infighting to bring about acceptance of that statement.

Unfortunately, UC Irvine does not offer dental benefits as part of its student health insurance plan. In fact, it is one of only two University of California campuses whose mandatory student health insurance does not include or provide the option to add dental benefits.

Prop 2's goal is to give farm animals in California enough room in their cages to turn around, lie down and stretch their limbs. This is a moderate, reasonable step toward making farming in California more humane.

When you restrict access to contraceptives, you affect the foundation of strong families. According to a recent National Public Radio report, nearly 750,000 teenagers will become pregnant this year and three out of every 10 American girls will get pregnant at least once before they hit their 20th birthday. That's a lot of teen pregnancies.

Proposition 11, if passed, will transfer redistricting powers from California's legislature, a body of mostly incumbent politicians, to an unelected, independent 14-member commission. The commission would establish districts for the Board of Equalization, state senate and state assembly. However, the state legislature will still retain the power to draw congressional districts.

Amidst the financial crisis, an imminent election and a dozen important state propositions, a proposition decriminalizing (but not legalizing) prostitution in the city of San Francisco is a rather small and contained issue.

Any activity can be an art, as long as it inspires. Lecturing is no different. Throughout one's experience as an undergrad at UC Irvine, one has the luxury of constantly being inspired by a lecture. Some lectures inspire learning and others a siesta. While inspiring mouthfuls of dripping drool can have its glory, the real heroes to any student are those professors who can make an abominable subject digestible.

Although much can be said about the problems in America's health care system, perhaps even more can be said about a huge road block in health care effectiveness the world over: pharmaceutical companies. Through a variety of minute techniques that the average person may not even think about, pharmaceutical companies are able to pluck the pockets of both the American poor and wealthy alike. Moreover, due to the citizens of some impoverished nations having no finances to sweep up, some pharmaceutical companies simply refuse to make their products available in some countries.