Opinion

As I stood at the Muslim Student Union table on Ring Mall last week, I noticed a young boy standing with his mother at the mock apartheid wall. David was 5 years old, and he carried a stuffed animal in his hand. As I approached them, his mother said, "I am usually at work at this time, but I just wanted my son to see this."

If conservatives had any fewer brains, they'd be brain dead. With calls for nuking Iran and killing Iraqi civilians to get the job done, Ann Coulter is not exempt. In her address to the UC Irvine community on May 22 in the Student Center, it was difficult to distinguish between criticism and vicious slander. Her constant references to Senator Barack Obama as "Barouk Hussein Obama" could not even be considered comic relief.

Sergeant Matthis Chiroux, a 24-year-old army veteran who has served in Afghanistan, Japan, Germany and the Philippines, recently refused to be deployed to Iraq, citing his belief that the conflict is an "illegal war."

Get out the teriyaki sauce because I am ready to marinate a lame duck. I must apologize; I could not resist making a pun about a duck. Once again, the George W. Bush administration is partaking in ludicrous shenanigans that will tarnish its already filthy reputation.

Have you ever had a crabby old person in your life who tried to make you feel guilty by telling you Great Depression anecdotes like "I used to walk 15 miles in the snow to go to school!" and "Back in my day, we didn't have color TVs with the ‘Mary-o' Brothers—we mined for coal in our spare time, and we liked it!"? Well, according to a recent study by the Economic Policy Institute, it may be time to dig deep and prepare for lean times like Gramps oh-so-bravely did.

"Repent or pay the price in Hell!" Sound familiar? If you have walked along Ring Mall around the Administration Building this past week, it should.

June 7 is the 43rd anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court case of Griswold vs. Connecticut, which granted women the right to privacy in all sexual matters.

The Supreme Court upheld Kentucky's right to use lethal injection for capital punishment this past month, despite the fact that most of the Western world abandoned capital punishment long ago. This ruling shows that in at least one respect, America is failing to cross the threshold into becoming a sensible society.

Wanted: A photogenic man or woman (must not scare children and small animals), from a swing state, preferably Ohio. He or she should have a background in politics and public service, but must not be too controversial or outspoken. PR-friendly family and cute dog a plus.

Does presidential candidate John McCain have more years of experience, or just fewer years until he becomes senile?

After 60 years, I would venture that the situation in Israel and the Middle East is nigh insoluble. As our own campus microcosm suggests, this issue is a tinderbox, to put it lightly. The stalemate is enervating and the tension is palpable.

Why are we surprised when we hear about school shootings, domestic abuse and rape? Jackson Katz, an anti-sexist male speaker, writer and film producer, says that considering how we socialize people according to gender, we should expect these problems.