Opinion

In elementary school, we’re taught to accept a very specific idea of kindness: “sharing is caring,” “treat others as you would like to be treated” and the like. Truisms though they may be, these doctrines are conceptually good rules to live by. The issue with them is that as time wears on and relationships become more complex than kickball matches at recess and crayon sharing, kindness takes on a whole new meaning.

Over two years ago, University of California and California State University students formed leaderless general assemblies and occupied administrative buildings to show their opposition to fee hikes and budget cuts. Their slogan was “Occupy Everything, Demand Nothing.” About a month ago, citizens assembled in Zuccotti Park in New York City to protest increasing economic inequality and the dominance of finance capital. “Occupy Everything” became “Occupy Wall Street” and, finally, returned to our own Central Park as “Occupy Davis.”

On Oct. 9, Gov. Jerry Brown approved Senate Bill 746, which prohibits the use of tanning beds for those under the age of 18. The bill is an important step to decreasing the general use of tanning beds, but in particular decreasing use among minors.

Since the passage of the Oct. 1 Durbin Amendment, which reduces about half of the amount retailers have to pay banks for debit card swipe fees, banks have been trying to make up for this lost revenue. Early next year, Bank of America will be enacting a $5 a month surcharge to debit card users. Other banks are still testing out monthly fees.

The guest opinion “Israeli-Palestinian prisoner swap” on Oct. 25th was simply one of the most slanted pieces I’ve ever read. Not only did the author fail to look at both perspectives of the issue, he managed to unfairly attack one side.

Tuesday Oct. 26, 2011, a group of individuals distributed DVDs entitled “180” on the UC Davis campus. The content of the film was both triggering for many in our communities and also deceitfully hidden. Our response to “180” is multi-faceted and we want to share both our support for the community and share our critique.

I am an Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drug Student Assistant in the Health Education and Promotion (HEP) department of Student Health and Counseling Services, and I wanted to address some suggestions that were made in the column “Bar crawl a rite of passage for 21st birthdays”, which promoted the idea of going out on a bar crawl on one’s 21st birthday.

Since nice guys finish last, why don’t they upgrade to rascal? It’s only a matter of time before natural selection disposes of them completely. The world of romance would be a perfectly peachy paradise if there were a one-to-one ratio of girls and jerks. That way everyone gets what they want! Here’s why:.

Sex, drugs and alcohol are things that we’ve been told, from a very early age, to steer clear of. If you do them, you’ll die. And like all other bad deeds, they share a common denominator – one that gives birth to all things malevolent: peer pressure.

The dedication of the new Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. national memorial sculpture in Washington D.C. last week drew both reverent praise and ire. Martin Luther King III claims the statue is within his top three of 50 statues he’s seen of his father. If you’re like me and you’re wondering just how one ranks statues of his or her father, he claims it actually looks like his dad. But others are less impressed.

Since mid-October, Davis residents and students have been occupying Central Park to show solidarity with the global Occupy movement that originated on Wall Street. As a result, local activists have added Davis to the list of over 1,500 cities and towns worldwide that have similar demonstrations underway.

Tuesday morning marked the end of a long period of captivity for Israeli Seargent First Class Gilad Shalit. Shalit was taken captive on June 25, 2006 when his batallion was ambushed by a group of Palestinian militants in Kerem Shalom Israel, a few kilometers from Gaza and Egypt. One thousand nine hundred and forty two days after Shalit was taken captive, he finally returned home to Israel where he was warmly embraced by his family, Prime Minister Netanyahu, and the rest of his country. The release of Gilad Shalit came at a very high cost though, as Israel released 1,027 Palestinian prisoners.