Opinion

Something very important happened on Tuesday, but it went largely unnoticed.

On the same day that we learned housing prices fell at a record pace last quarter; that the Department of Health and Human Services reported health care costs will top $8,000 per person in 2009; that Barack Obama made Bobby Jindal look like a third grader who fell off the short bus; Hilda Solis, a pro-union advocate of environmental justice and minority and women's rights was confirmed as the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Labor.

In Rick Perlstein's 2007 essay "What's the Matter with College?" he laments the death of college as a catalyst for radical social change. For him, the increasing pre-professional bureaucratization of college deprives students of the creative intellectual impetus they need to renew national culture and idealism.

Word vomit (n.) - originated in Paramount's Mean Girls, which everyone has seen whether they admit it or not. It is the act of uttering words that have floated around in your head countless times but that you would never actually dream of saying.

Social networking website Facebook recently tried to change the End User License Agreement that must be accepted by anyone who wants to have an account on the website.

It's probably due to the fact that my roommate Shlarissa has gotten me hooked on the show "Intervention," but I've been thinking a lot about how easy it is to fall into bad habits.

Barack Obama is the second president in a row frequently compared to a monkey. It'd be accurate to say most people have seen the images of former President George Bush being compared to a variety of primates.

Whenever anyone gets behind the wheel of a car there are a number of things that need to be taken care of first. A prospective driver needs to be found competent to control a vehicle that can potentially inflict severe damage on others.

Fifty years of economic sanctions and political ostracism has made North Korea a starving bulldog, snarling and rarely biting, but nonetheless dangerous. The United States' stubborn policy of non-engagement needs to change. North Korea poses a threat not only to the United States, but also to global stability and the U.S. is in the best position to help create a long term solution to the longstanding Korean question.

Ah, the commitment-phobe. Seems like every girl is getting herself one these days. Not only is dating hard enough in this world, but there are guys out there who are afraid of the dreaded "label."

During last week's ASUCD elections, several candidates clung to the tired mantra of "bridging the gap between students and their Association." For years now, this has been a favorite tactic of those desperately seeking the sense of self-approval that, apparently, only an ASUCD elected position can bring.

It's finally over. At least for now.

After 18 months of negotiations, service workers and the University of California have come to an agreement regarding workers' pay.

ASUCD voting hit its second highest turnout on record last week. This occurred despite a three-and-a-half-hour downtime on Thursday night. The downtime was compensated for with an additional three and a half hours of voting time on Friday morning.

Whether it's a big thanksgiving feast at the same house every year, or the first song sung on a long road trip, for most kids traditions large and small, are a big part of our lives. Before we even understand the concept of familiarity, we learn what it's like to count on something, or someone, year in and year out.

So this week I had several column ideas that I thought were interesting and relevant to college folks and was totally unable to choose between them. Below, separated by well-placed boldface type, are the bare bones of each.

The War on Drugs, by its very nomenclature, is illogical. Using the word 'war' vests an undue amount of power into the agencies carrying out the 'fight' for 'justice,' and in the case of the War on Drugs, what is it a 'war' against?