Opinion

To celebrate thisrecent July4weekend,I’m dedicating this column to random thoughts,which I suppose means I’m giving a nod to Rob Olson and consequently Thomas Sowell for the inspiration.

The UC Davis Health System will take an important stepTuesday,when smoking will finally be banned on the entire UCDHS campus. It is refreshing that a leader in local medical practices is making such a strong statement about smoking– finally.

Civil rights groups have requested that theCalifornia courts block an initiative which would renew the state’s ban on gay marriage from appearing on the November ballot. Maybe I’m alone in this,but the idea that so many people are willing to devote so much of their own time and money to fund an initiative that would take rights away from their neighbors is incomprehensible to me.Don’t they have better things to do?

The number ofherons and egrets populating the arboretum in recent years has become unmanageable; between2005and2007,the number of egrets in the arboretum has increased more than fivefold.

After 24years of dedicated service to UC Davis,Chancellor Larry Vanderhoef announcedMonday he will be stepping down at the end of next year.

I’ve written a lot of columns this year – 27, actually, including this one – and I’m proud of every damn one of ’em. Very proud. I’m proud of them because, let’s be honest, they were pretty damn good.

UC Davis and the UC system,likeSan Franciscoand dozens of other communities acrossCalifornia,includingL.A.,Fresno,Oakland,Santa Cruz,Berkeley,Palo Alto andMarinCounty have adopted the goal of Zero Waste.

There is something profoundly human about adramaticsporting loss,particularlywhen itbefalls a teamon the brink of victory thatyou wholeheartedly support.

Election coverage

When I finally abandoned my dream of becoming a history professor a year-and-a-half ago,I decided my last column would be a proud declaration of my immediate intention to join the Army.

Life, Liberty and Love. You’ve heard many of the sayings conceptually tying the Ls together. “Give me liberty or give me death,” “A life without love is no life at all,” etc. I believe it is rightfully so. Each one has a distinct identifiable characteristic, yet to separate one from the others makes the remaining empty.

It’s been a fun year being a columnist, all. I’ve enjoyed pounding out these columns of mine every Monday night, mere hours before I had to go in and edit. I kind of like having a byline and getting my picture in the paper.